Stolen
by ultravioletsound
Summary: Lilly always had a taste for darkness, but being kidnapped by vampire royalty and living in their haunted castle wasn't quite what she had in mind... Now she's just trying to survive, with help from her mysterious green-eyed kidnapper. REVIEW! :D
1. o1

**o1; so i bet you're curious about how i ended up here...**

_My name is Lilly-Marie Moretti, I'm sixteen - seventeen in about a month, and as of this moment I do not know where I am - but I was born in New York, and for most of my life, I lived in Beverley Hills, California. My father is a famous director, and my mother his star actress. I have two sisters, both older than me, both out of the house. I'm the spoiled youngest child in a too-wealthy family. Lucky me? Definitely. Until today, at least._

_Maybe by writing it down, I'll find a way of proving to myself that this is real - that I'm not losing my mind._

_I'm not sure, cause I'm not wearing a watch, but about eight hours ago, I was kidnapped by someone - something - that is impossibly unreal..._

"Lilly-Marie, darling?" I heard my mother's sparkling voice outside my bedroom, over my music. I turned it down quickly - my mom didn't exactly appreciate my taste, and she didn't like having to yell at me through the noise.

"Just _Lilly_, mom," I corrected her, opening my bedroom door, to reveal the mess it was in.

My mother rolled her eyes (azure blue, just like mine) at me, at _The Blackout_, playing jaggedly in the background. She was dressed in a sparkly, cream, knee length gown - despite being fifty one and having three kids, she was still twice as youthful and glamorous as me. You'd think I'd be more fashion-conscious, living in the Hills, but I'd inherited my father's stubborn attitude.

"That's us leaving for the premiere," She told me, "You know we'd have brought you, but I don't like the idea of you being around all those paparazzi people - anyway, if you decide to go out then leave me a message on my cell."

I knew my mom thought I should be more like my sisters - they were both more interested in lavish parties and glitter than I was. I preferred the company of books to people - I always had - another one of my father's qualities. Mom wanted me to be more interested in the premiere, I could tell.

"Yeah, no problem, mom," I shrugged. I felt that I really wasn't missing anything when it came to the premiere. I wasn't interested in the movie anyway - every time I'd seen my father in the past months, he'd gone on for ages about it. I could probably recite the entire script backwards.

"We should be back late - if you want anything to eat, then ask Renault, he's in the kitchen now I think, but he's leaving soon. Try and eat healthy dear..." She eyed my figure speculatively, searching for phantom kilograms. I resisted rolling my eyes.

"I'll be _fine_," I emphasized, "Go have fun."

"Angela! She'll be fine - let's go!"

That was my dad from downstairs - rescuing me. I smiled and his voice echoed around our enormous house. My mom sighed resignedly, and turned to totter downstairs in her eight hundred dollar Jimmy Choos.

"Have a pleasant evening," my mother said, "But try and do something productive dear..."

"I guess..."

From the look on her face I was pretty sure that she actually wished that I was going out to a nightclub with a boyfriend she despised. I went back into my room, turned up my music. It wasn't that I didn't have friends... Okay, I didn't exactly have many - but that didn't mean I hadn't had fun either. I was still a teenager.

_So what to do now?_ I slumped onto my bed, and considered calling a friend, or more likely an acquaintance, sneaking out. But I felt kind of tired. I stared across my room to where a huge mirror sat - my mom had her way with designing my room - unfortunately.

My bored reflection stared back at me - with a pale porcelain face and stormy blue eyes that could maybe even be pretty if I tried to look after myself more. My hair was soft, lying warm on my shoulders in a shock of bright orange-red. I took after my mother in looks. I had her small, lithe figure - though apparently still not slender enough for my mother's tastes. I had some curves, perhaps, but I was very far from fat. My oversized "_Born Of Osiris_" t-shirt hid any figure I had though.

I had a couple messages on my phone but I decided I didn't feel like replying. I was going to lie around, watch a gory horror movie, and eat popcorn until I burst. What could be a better way to spend a Friday night?

It was ten minutes into the movie - the first few people had been turned into zombies and were now gnawing off people's limbs - when I heard Renault leave. He called up to me to let me know, and I said it was fine, and goodnight. It was just me now. I wasn't edgy about being in the house alone. For a minute I considered calling someone, my sister or something, but dismissed the thought.

I got pretty engrossed in the movie during the next hour. It was pretty bloody. It ended with the main character having to amputate his best friend's arm without anaesthetic before everyone in the building got contaminated. I felt shivers going up my spine.

I don't know if the movie was making me paranoid - but as I meandered my way to the kitchen to put away the popcorn bowl, the shivers were still there. The room I was in was cold - which was no surprise, given that it was so big and the fan was on... But I felt like I was being watched. I was the _only_ one in the house right?

Nevermind, I thought, trying to shake off bad vibes. It was just a silly movie, messing with my mind. But I still hurried my way back up the stairs to the untidy sanctuary of my room.

_Crack._

It was a tiny noise, something as insignificant as a branch snapping in the wind (of which there was none), but I froze. It sounded like it had come from downstairs. Maybe something had fallen onto the hard floor?

Whatever. It didn't matter. I turned on some music. _Loud_ music. That would keep any ghost noises at bay while I was in the shower. I turned the noise up loud enough so that I could hear it clearly in the ensuite bathroom next to my room. I turned the water up hot and stepped in, flinching a little at first, but adjusting to the temperature.

The next noise was loud enough that I could hear it through _Gorjira_. A dull thunk against the wall. Was I really just imagining things? Now I really was freaked. My hands shook when they reached for my fluffy black dressing gown, and wrapped around my still dripping wet frame - I literally leapt out of the shower.

"Renault?" I called tentatively. Maybe he'd forgotten something and come back.

I got no answer.

On my playlist _love a trainwreck _by _we came with broken teeth_ came on, and I shrunk back. The quiet but strong notes were soothing and frightening at the same time. I wanted to turn it off, but I was afraid the silence would only freak me more. I grabbed my phone and looked for a number that I wanted to call... And couldn't find anyone in my contacts who would be remotely helpful. Cursing, I dropped my phone in my pocket of my dressing gown.

I turned around. Something black crept at the corner of my vision. I blinked and it was gone.

But it wasn't actually gone, no. I could feel their gaze crawling on my skin. Something sharp and sweet smelling drowned my senses. I could feel them moving behind me.

I ran, but I knew I never had a chance.

Before I even realised the cold, iron grip around my torso, I was looking into a pair of eyes so intensely green it was like they were burning a hole through my skull. My heart felt like it wanted to explode out my ribcage, my breath caught. I tried to struggle and I couldn't move. My mouth opened, and all that came out was a terrified, stunned croak.

The face I was looking at was possibly the most terrifying, beautiful, lethal thing I could imagine. My captor had pulled me close in his icy hard grip and I was leaning close to him. I could identify his features, memorised them - the strong line of his jaw, and the planes of his flawlessly symmetrical jawbones. His eyebrows were pulled together slightly into an almost, but not quite glower, and beneath them his jade eyes blazed supernaturally. His skin was unblemished, lightly tanned, and perfectly smooth. His hair was dark and had clearly not been given any thought - but it was perfect. His full lips curved upwards into a cruel smirk, and finally a triumphant grin.

His teeth were very white, and flashed at me dangerously. For moment I didn't recognise his front canines - how they were extended, sharpened to a point like a snake's or a jaguar's. Then I did. _Fangs_.

I could barely compute what was going on, but eventually my mind unscrambled what he'd said.

"Try and struggle, and I'll slit your throat." His voice was astoundingly calm and indifferent, in a smooth baritone that could have been charming if he wasn't threatening to kill me.

I was gaping at him in disbelief. This couldn't be happening to me. I had never been so scared in my life, every beat of my heart pounded in my ears. And yet... There was something else that I didn't know yet. I could feel it. I closed my mouth shut tight, but I didn't shut my eyes. I couldn't look away from his darkly angelic face.

He jerked my neck back like I was a rag doll, exposing my throat, and a crazy thought ran through my mind.

_vampire._

But he didn't bite me. I felt something smooth and cold being wound around my neck, like a necklace. I wondered hazily if he was going to strangle me with it. I could feel the heavy silver resting on my collar bone, moulding to my shape, and I couldn't breathe again.

Then as he fastened it behind my hair, it felt like the back of my neck was on fire, hot white fire, the kind that melted bones. I gasped in pain, but as quickly as I'd reacted, the fire went out. On reflex, I tried to reached for my neck, but like lightening, his hand was around my wrist, forcing it down to my side effortlessly. His lips once again formed that secret smile.

"I've found you at last," he said, looking into my eyes, his voice barely audible. Then he laughed mockingly.

"W-what are you?" My voice finally seemed to have caught up with my mind, and I blurted out question after question. "What did you just do to me? Why are you in m-my house? Are you-"

"Later, if you don't mind," he scowled, warning me. His eyes flashed, angered. "We need to go."

"_W-we_?" I spluttered.

He took no notice of my confusion. He picked me up like I weighed nothing, and again, I shuddered at how cold his hands were. What happened next, I still don't understand or believe. He seemed to move, or the world seemed to blur around him. Then he was standing on my front porch in the dark night - with me still held in his infallible grip.

It was only then, when the cold wind hit my skin, still bare under the flimsy dressing gown, I realised was being kidnapped.

I thought of my parents, my sisters, my friends and family. I thought of all the people in Beverley Hills who didn't even know who I was, and realised, none of them could save from this creature. Whatever he was. I was helpless.

Then he kicked off the ground in one fluid movement. I screamed, expecting to be flung flailing to my death by this psychopath that had simply ran in and plucked me from my home. But then something even more horrible happened. Long thick, black feathered wings unfolded, I could feel the muscles ripple on his chest as they did. I drew in a breath of disbelief and maybe even awe. My kidnapper had wings.

_an angel?_

And fangs.

But right now, that wasn't my main concern. I was hanging a hundred feet in the air above solid ground, on the grace of someone I could not even prove existed. Below me was certain death. Above me, holding me, not very securely to his chest, was god knows what. It was not looking good.

"What are you doing?" I gasped, suddenly aware of how cold flying was when you were dressed in almost nothing, and your hair was still wet. The man, creature, angel... whatever, didn't answer me. We were slowly going higher. Looking down was making me feel ill. Tiny lights... The Hollywood sign, visible from a distance, glowing. Oddly enough, this could only belong in a movie... Against my better notions, I wrapped my arms as tightly as I could around his neck, knowing if he wanted he could let me fall to my death. And I closed my eyes, and tried to convince myself this wasn't happening. It was just a nightmare.

"Take me back." I muttered under my breath, over and over, like a mantra.

I was so shocked I nearly let go when he replied to me.

"This is real, human. Get used to it." His voice was quiet and steady, compared to my shredded nerves. "I won't turn back... You will _never_ see your home again."

"_What?_"

He was silent.

As the time passed, the air grew colder still. My shivering turned to violent shudders, that hit my bones painfully off his constricting arms. Locks of my wet hair were frost covered and I was almost sure my lips were turning blue.

Where were we going? How far were we going? I wanted to look down, but I was afraid of falling. Finally, I summoned the nerve. And my fears were confirmed. Below us was thick deep snow, and mountains. And to think we'd been in California only a couple hours ago. I didn't even know such a place existed on this continent. Maybe I would never see my family again... It was either go to god-knows-where, with god-knows-who... Or die.

So I let go of him.


	2. o2

**o2; vampires exist, yeah, apparently they're serious.**

Cold air whipped past me as I plunged to earth. All I could hear was the whistle of it in my ears and the feel of it freezing me to my bones. Snow was everywhere I looked fluttering around me beautifully... Reality hadn't hit me, it was like flying.

But I was going to die.

Just as the shock had tingled through me, I was caught. He'd swooped down and caught me. It would have been reminiscent of Superman, if I wasn't on the brink of freezing to death and he wasn't a monster from another dimension trying to kidnap me for mysterious, worrying, unknown reasons.

"Do that again, girl," He growled, his voice suddenly converted to a raspy snarl, "Then you will suffer more than I had originally intended."

And how much had I been _originally intended_ to suffer? I wondered with a touch of terror. As if this wasn't bad enough.

Eventually I felt so cold that it hurt to move. I wanted to curl up into a ball and go to sleep. My eyelids were beginning to close, and I wasn't keeping track of time, when I noticed a change in the air. It was a lot more still. I made myself look down. Below us, not too far below us either, the mountains had receded. The sky was cloudy still, but it wasn't snowing or raining. I could see thick foreboding forest on the craggy hills in around us, walling the valley in.

On one of the those crags sat the most ominous, and similarly, the most exciting castle I had ever been to. Not that I had ever been to many - except save a few when I went to France with my father. But this castle wasn't like those ones.

It was dark slate coloured, and stood out of the rocky cliff face like it was part of the land, blended well with the forest. But it was too beautiful to be natural, and it was much too gigantic. High iron wrought fences surrounded the immediate grounds, the only area where the glass was at all manicured. There were towers and perfectly constructed spires and statues. I couldn't guess at how many floors the building had - but certainly many. People in stained glass windows stared my hauntingly as we flew past, as if they disapproved of me and my feeble state at the moment.

I didn't have much time to admire the place though, as my kidnapper kept going ever lower, aiming, I think, for a blackened balcony with an open archway to enter through.

What could they even possibly want me here for? How could such a place exist and not be known about? Surely I was still dreaming, because that was the only possible explanation I could even begin to understand.

He hit the ground so lightly that at first I didn't even notice. I was so exhausted, more tired, and colder, than I'd ever been in my life. I just wanted to fall asleep... Or even better, wake up, and be safe in my bed at home.

"Stand up." It was a command, not a request.

He put me down, and I flinched when I felt my frozen feet hit the rough stone floor of the balcony. My knees, weak and useless, buckled beneath me. Before I collapsed, I felt his hands digging into my shoulders, holding me up. He growled loudly. I could almost imagine him saying, _pathetic humans..._

He lead me into the room. I barely noticed anything about it, save for the bed and the warm looking sheets atop it. Then another thought hit me.

"What _do_ you want from me?" My voice had taken on another meaning this time. He smirked at me, and looked almost like he was about to laugh.

"Nothing for now," He said, his voice turning stern again. "Sleep. Do not leave this room - or you will be punished. Someone will bring you food if you need it. Goodbye Lilly."

He turned away, looking more than glad to be rid of me - relieved. I was too tired to worry anymore, too tired to care what he was, or to care who I offended. I just wanted to sleep and to be warm. And to see my parents, but that looked unlikely.

"Who are you?" I said, my vision starting to blur with exhaustion.

"My name is Erik," He frowned at me with disapproval that reminded me of the stained glass people... Or did they remind me of him? Whatever. He disappeared before I could even trace the movement of his shadow.

I stumbled towards the inviting looking bed, until I literally fell on it. I had barely pulled the sheets over my body and my eyes closed instantly.

*******

When I woke up I was shaking. I'd had a nightmare I'd never forget, flying vampires, snow capped mountains, a gigantic castle... and intensely bright green eyes were all burned into my mind. Then I opened my eyes - expecting to be in my room, safe, wrapped in my familiar sheets, with Beverley Hills waiting just outside my window.

I was very mistaken.

My heartbeat began to race once again when I took in the strange alien room that I didn't recognise at all. I remembered my nightmare - or rather, last night - with new found clarity, and the panic started again. I wrapped my arms around myself, pulling my knees to my chest, trying to convince myself I was dreaming still, that I'd wake up soon, but it wasn't working.

The room I was in was lavishly decorated - the walls were covered with ornately patterned expensive wallpaper - black and tarnished silver. Ahead of me the archway that I'd _flown_ (I still couldn't believe it) through - had been closed against the outdoors with heavy red drapes. Around the room there was a polished wooden desk and carved chair, a oak wardrobe, and there looked to be a bathroom, as well as a door out - which I clearly remember being told I was not to use, and I felt cold again. Then theme was most definitely gothic.

The bed I was in was comfortable to the point that it felt like I was sinking into it, being strangled by the blood red silk sheets. I pushed them off me, realising I was wrapped still in my fuzzy black dressing gown that I'd been wearing last night. No, it hadn't been a dream. I was never this imaginative.

My feet recoiled when they touched the bare floor. The stone was cold on my bare feet, and I didn't have any shoes or socks. I didn't have anything - I didn't even know where I was. I made myself explore the room - fighting panic every step of the way. I couldn't summon the courage to look outside and pull back the drapes - I could remember, almost collapsing on the burnt looking balcony last night, in the dark lit only by my kidnapper's incandescent anger at me...

On the desk was a set of clothes that someone must have left out for me. Had someone been in here while I slept? It was unnerving to think about. The clothes seemed to be about my size, including a dark wine coloured sweater, a black knee length skirt, and even a pair of plain black doll shoes, also the correct size, which lay beside the chair. I guessed I was supposed to wear them. Not that I had much choice, really, compared to what I had.

Next to the clothes was an open notebook, black and leather-bound, and a pen resting on it. It was empty save for this, written in elegant script:

_Lilly Marie Morretti_

_A reminder. Do not leave this room until you are sent for. The door is locked. You were warned._

Then a line below it, in completely different, in loopy scrawl:

_Put the clothes on - if they don't fit then let me know. I'll see you soon, probably._

I was left to wonder at the message as I explored the bathroom. The first one was obviously from him. Erik. The second one, I had no idea. It looked like they didn't want to hurt me, at least. That was a bright side.

The bathroom was white - the oversized round bathtub looked more than inviting. At first I worried if they wouldn't like this, then some more defiant part of my mind took control, and I started the hot water, not caring about my situation. I realised I was still cold from the night before - and I stuffed my hands into my dressing gown pockets - I was surprised when I felt the cold plastic of my blackberry at the bottom of it.

I gripped like it an explorer held onto their last bottle of water in the Sahara desert. I could contact someone. I would be rescued. They could trace my call, they had to, somehow...

When I turned it on, there was no signal. It was impossible to send or receive calls in this place. In tried to remember the view I'd seen of the castle - I didn't recognise it. And hell, if I told anyone I'd been kidnapped by flying monsters with glowing eyes and monstrous fangs, they'd think I was insane, or that I was crank caller, and hang up anyway. A new wave of despair rolled over me.

I turned off my phone, and left it at the very back of one of the desk drawers, hoping that no one would find it, and that maybe I'd get a chance to use it.

According to my phone it was ten in the morning - but I didn't know where in the world I was, so I peered carefully outside just to check. The craggy valley looked different in the pale sunlight. The forest stretching out before seemed greener and wilder than ever - more impossibly unnatural. The castle I was trapped seemed blacker against the rocks. I stepped cautiously onto the balcony, and looked over the low iron rails. The height was enough to make my head spin with vertigo. The ground seemed so far away, so rock hard.

There were birds, big and unusual birds that I didn't recognise, but other than them, I could see no other signs of movement around me. Everything seemed still, even the windless air.

When I went back inside, the bath was full.

I sat in it for a long time, until I felt warmed to the bone, and my hands went wrinkly with the steam and water. I thought about my family. They'd be looking for me right now. My mother would be going spare, my father would be furious. No doubt the newspapers would want to know about the disappearance of the celebrity couple's youngest daughter... I could imagine the newscast now, I thought sarcastically.

And I realised that I was crying.

Last night had taken it's toll on me, I realised when I saw my face in a mirror. I was paler than ever, and the dark circles under my eyes were more prominent than ever. I pulled my wet hair out of my face to see more clearly. A sparkle of silver caught my eye. My eyes trailed, for the first time, down to my neck.

Glittering malignantly on my neck was an elaborate silver pendant - with a big dark red stone set into the concise silver loops and swirls. It leered up at me from my collar bone, daring me to try and remove it. I reached to the back of my neck searching for the clasp; there wasn't one.

It seemed to have fused to the skin of my neck. My mouth fell open, horrified. I pulled on the silver band around my throat, but not only did it refuse to budge - it racked my head with searing, blinding pain until I let go. It would not be removed. I blinked, trying to clear my head. If I couldn't remove it, I had no choice but to wait.

I got dressed into the clothes that _someone_ had left for me. They fit very well actually. Wasn't I being a little pampered for this to be a proper kidnapping? I tried to open the door out of my room, feeling braver. The heavy door was locked tight.

Then I saw the notebook. I started to write.

I didn't know how long had passed when the I heard the lock of the door I'd been trapped behind click, with a strange rusty noise, but it made me jump from my seat. I snapped the notebook closed shut, feeling silly for writing a diary at a time like this. I shoved it quickly into the back of the drawer with my blackberry as the door swung open.

"Lilly-Marie, right?" A curious sounding voice inquired. A girl who looked about twenty, with jagged, bright purple hair, standing in the doorframe was looking at me curiously - I tried not to let my face flush, then she might notice the that I had hidden the notebook. But I didn't feel like she was going to hurt me. Probably because of the way she grinned cheerfully at me, like this was totally normal.

"L-Lilly," I corrected unsteadily, I tried standing up, and staggered slightly. "Who are you? Are you the one who-"

"Left you the message - yup, that was me - the _second_ message anyway... Erik can be a bit...um, _moody_, can't he?" Her voice was surprisingly amiable. She seemed really normal - she was human, I meant. I hoped. No more monsters, please...

"My name's Zoe, by the way," she smiled. "And don't worry, I'm human. And, oh, the clothes look good on you - I knew I'd got it right. If you don't like them or anything then I can get some more - this place has pretty much everything."

"It's, er, the clothes are fine," I stammered, more confused than before. "What do you mean by being human? Where are we? And why is this-" I gestured to the necklace "-bolted into my neck?"

She eyed the pendant with some worry, then shrugged her shoulders mystified by it. "You'll have to ask someone else, I'm afraid. The vampires don't tell us a lot - we just get our orders and carry them out."

"Vampires?" I stared at her. "Is that what he was?" She was kidding, the rational part of my mind told me. But I knew that she meant what she said.

"How else do you think you got here last night?" She laughed like I was silly, "A bus?"

"B-but vampires don't exist," I wailed, "They're just... fiction!"

"Mhmm, that's what most people think," she nodded, "But you'd be surprised... Anyway, come on, I said I'd bring you downstairs to get food - so lets go before I forget which way I'm going again." She made a sharp movement to the door, and just because I didn't know what else to do, I followed her. My head was still in total chaos so much I hardly care about leaving my blackberry in the bedroom behind me.

I was about to ask her how exactly she would get lost, but when I looked outside, I could see why. Dark, forbidding corridors, with an unimaginable number of doors and archways leading to who knows where, many of them looking strange and forboding. Three sets of stairs that I could see - one spiral, one stone, and one wooden - so rotten is looked like it would break if I stepped on it. Windows every now and then, but not many. This place was a nightmare to navigate... I realised my mouth was open, and shut it.

Zoe smirked. "Yeah, it's hellish, I can tell you," she said, strating towards the spiral staircase closest to us. "It took me about an hour to find my way _here_. Some people go missing for days in this labyrinth - some don't ever come back."

"What?" I stared at her. Her face was grave.

"Yeah, I think that's why Erik doesn't want you trying to get out," she murmured. "There's worse things than vampires in this castle - it's wild. A vampire is relatively simple next to some of the monsters we've got."

"You're joking," I told myself again... Then looked back at the stony, haunting corridor behind us and quickened my pace.

"I'm totally serious," she said calmly. "But jeez, cheer up Lilly." If she was human too, then why did she accept all this lunacy? I ground my teeth together.

"You still haven't told me where I am," I muttered, "Or what you want with me. I was told I'm never going to see my family again - how am I supposed to cheer up?" She turned sharply into a hallway I almost never noticed, and I swerved to keep speaking to her.

"Honestly, I have no idea where this place is; Only that it's the castle of the King Vampire, Christoph, and that it's a pretty long way from California," she sighed, probably feeling a bit sympathetic. "I don't know what the vampires want with you; I just work for them. I risk my life working here, but it's kind of thrilling sometimes too, not to mention they pay me a small fortune - but they don't tell me that much. To be honest sometimes, I'd rather not know. Maybe they'll tell you, maybe not."

"Well, that's kind of unhelpful," I groaned, exasperated.

"Yeah, I know," She said, flicking her long purple fringe out of her sharp brown eyes to see my face, and smiling kindly. "If it's any consellation, I don't think they'll kill you, yet."

"That's... comforting," I replied, staring worriedly about me. Remembering those sharp white fangs flashing in the light.

"Erik doesn't usually kidnap people, Lilly," She frowned, thinking, "They usually come willingly. They probably need you for something... I'm just not sure what."

"I'm sure it was this way..." I heard her mumble under her breath, choosing a door and stepping through. I was completely lost as to where we were, feeling useless as ever. Zoe walked quickly ahead of me. I paused at the door when I heard a noise from close by. Not far away. Just down the hallway. It sounded like sobbing.

I stopped, and when I looked back for Zoe, she'd disappeared. I was alone. In a massive haunted castle. Owned by a bunch of vampires.

I was starting to think this would be the worst (or last) day of my life.


	3. o3

**Author's note**

**I just thought I'd say thanks for all the reviews - this is the first story i've posted on fanfiction so I'm pretty chuffed that people like it enough to tell me that :D Let me know if you have any ideas or questions etcetera. I should be updating quite regularly up till about chapter ten, because I've got all those chapters already typed up ;) hehe.**

**o3; seduced by heartless vampires.**

My skin broke out in bumps, every hair on my body standing on end. Though I'd only spent a short half hour with Zoe, I'd grasped enough to realise that this was very bad. And combined with Erik's warnings and threats, I knew that I was in trouble. I looked around me, trying to orientate myself again, but Zoe seemed to have disappeared completely. Not that I didn't think she was crazy anyway - who would want to work in a place like this?!

"Zoe!?" I yelled, not liking the echo my voice left ringing in the twisted corridors. "Zoe?"

There was no answer, she must have continued on her way - or maybe even realised I had left her and was lost just looking for me. All I could hear was the whistle of air moving through the countless rooms, and a soft huffing, sobbing noise.

"Zoe!" I yelled again, to no avail.

"Hello...?" There was a weak, distant sounding voice calling to me. It didn't sound like Zoe - the voice was too hoarse and ill sounding, but still not threatening. "Is someone there?"

"Who is that?" I called out cautiously, moving tentatively in the direction the sound had come from - towards a darkened archway that gave me the shivers once more.

"D-diana," I think was what she said, but it was cut off by rapid wheeze. "Are you human too?"

Feeling less nervous about this - she was human, I was safe - I headed through the arch, peering about me. "Where are you?" I said, less loudly. There was another wheeze, and with horror, my eyes were drawn to a shaking figure, huddled into the corner of the stone room, pressing her torn clothes tightly to her heart. Her skin looked like it has once been a shimmering cocoa, but it now had a frightening pale grey tinge to it. Her brown eyes were wide and terrified as she looked up at me. The girl couldn't be older than me.

For once I felt too much pity to feel any fear. I knelt down to get a closer look at her, and my eyes widened with shock. Her bones stuck out from her skin in a way that looked sharp and painful, like she'd been _starved_.

"Thank you," she breathed, tears condensing in her huge eyes. "You don't know how long... _I_ don't know how long I've been lost in this place."

"You've been lost?" I gasped, horrified. What if no one ever found us? No one had found Diana... "My name's Lilly, and I'm human. I was brought here last night... I, he, _it flew_. We've got to get out of here... But I don't think I can."

Diana nodded like she understood.

"When I was taken, I didn't know that he was a vampire." She whispered, her voice too feeble to do anything but. "About a week ago maybe - I lived in Boston with my family. I never knew vampires existed. But I went to a nightclub. I... I let him walk me through the park...Then... Then he b-bit me. I was so _stupid_. I woke up, tied up to a bed a-and..."

She pressed the ragged party dress harder against her, and I could guess exactly what had been done to her. I could see the bite mark on her neck too - an angry red wound on her ashen skin.

"I tried to escape b-but I never realised this place was so big..." She started sobbing again. I let her lean her head, her lank black hair on my shoulder. "You're the first human I've seen..."

"It's okay," I muttered, my voice angry. My blood was boiling. Because of heartless vampires, doubtlessly. _Monsters_. "I'll help you... They kidnapped me too. I don't know what they want from me at all."

She was still crying softly, and I tried to persuade her to stand and come with me. I worried if she could manage to walk, holding her torn dress around her still - she must have been freezing in the dark and the stone. I lead her carefully out of the shadows, towards anywhere that looked like out.

"It's impossible," she said dully, after we'd only gone a few paces. "I've wandered this castle for days, and I seen a lot of things... I don't think I saw the same room twice."

"There has to be a way out," I said back, feeling hopeless, just looking at the expression she had.

"Zoe!" I called again in frustration, and not getting an answer. I picked a door, and I got yet another winding hallway - this one only slightly grander, with a chandelier and forbidding portraits. Like I was ever going to find anyone in this place.

Diana looked so weak, I was afraid if we walked any further she'd collapse to the ground, so after nearly an hour of wandering the hallways, shouting out for help, I just sat down against a wall, so we didn't have to walk anymore. Diana wasn't able to talk anymore - she just stared blankly ahead of her, dead to the world. I tried waving my hand in front of her face. Nothing seemed to help.

I slumped further down the wall, wishing I knew where I was. Wishing I was home.

There was suddenly a noise like guncrack, and I looked up in surprise. Diana barely seemed to notice. I glanced, shocked, at the amused dark eyes staring down fathomlessly at me.

"Oh, Erik won't like this at all," He laughed, his fangs flashing in the light.

I glared at him, aware that this was probably another one of the most beautiful people I'd seen in my life. His face was slim and angular, his eyes were the darkest possible brown you could imagine, with thick lashes. His ash blonde hair hung just out of his eyes, just slightly too long, and his slim athletic physique was dressed finely in what was surely designer. He looked conceited, infinitely cruel and almost feminine - but not quite.

He leaned towards me, taking a deep breath, breathing in the scent of my blood no doubt. I leaned away compulsively.

"You _do_ smell good," he chuckled humourlessly, "...Not to mention we seem not to affect you. How curious..." He watched me closely, examining me. Uncomfortable, I turned and looked at Diana. She was gazing up at the strange new vampire moonily, as though she'd forgotten what they'd done to her already. Like he was hypnotising her.

"What are you doing to her?" I asked sharply, but pulling myself against the wall, as far away from him as I could.

"It's not what I'm doing to her, sweetheart," he smirked, but his expression turned annoyed. "It's what I'm not able to do to you... Any other human female would be incapacitated by me standing so close - they normally have no power to resist us like this. Vampire pheromones, they lure in our prey... Dazzle them, you could say."

I was silent for a moment as I considered this. Was it really true?

"So, Lilly, I believe?" His eyes had narrowed.

"What do you want from me?" I hissed, wondering where I got the courage to be so outspoken.

"Relax, _darling_," he rolled his eyes scornfully, "If I was going to kill you, I would have already done it by now. You're lucky I came to find you... Incompetent _human _staff, I have no tolerance for them. Zoe will be punished severely for losing track of you, when I find her. You're really _so_ insignificant for such a fuss to be made over, don't you think?"

I was unable to answer, number by his nonchalant attitude. I was thinking with worry for Zoe - she was friendly, it wasn't her fault that I'd gotten lost.

"Hmm, not very bright, are we?" He muttered at my silence.

"W-who are you?!" I stammered angrily, my hands clenching into fists.

"Alexei Federov, a vampire," He looked at me sourly. "One day I will own this castle, and command the whole of the vampire species.." He trailed away, saw Diana, lying nearly comatose, and gave me a pathetic look. "You were trying to save her?" He laughed. "Any human brought to this place is guaranteed never to be truly saved, sorry. Her blood looks so weak, I don't even think I want to put her out of her misery."

"You're going to kill her?!" I nearly shouted, seething. "How could you do something so... So heartless! Is that what you're going to do with me? It's... Ugh!"

"I'm a vampire, and technically, we do have hearts, but we have no need of them." He answered flatly. "Do you want me to prove it you, or will you shut your mouth, leave that corpse here, and come with me?"

It took me a moment to realise he was speaking about Diana. I glowered at him.

"If that's how you feel, then I guess I'll have to prove it to you." He took a breath, and made as though to pounce at me, his eyes had turned horrible inky black - but out of nowhere, a strong arm had restrained him. Attached to it was the mysterious vampire from last night, and if I thought he had seemed angry then, his face now was furious.

If Alexei had reminded me of a wildcat, sleek, sly and haughty, then Erik reminded me of a wolf. His broad shoulders pulled Alexei back before he lunged for me roughly, snarling noises ripping from his throat.

"Harm her and I'll kill you," I heard him growl in a low warning. He looked down and his piercing eyes caught mine - I glared up at him too - he was still a vampire after all. The fact that he had saved me hadn't warmed me to him at all. For all I knew he could have been the one who had abducted Diana... Yet somehow I didn't think it was. His eyes fell on her and he looked irritated. Then he turned back to me.

"I told you not wander around by yourself," he said gruffly, a trace of his previous fury, and distaste for me, still evident.

Alexei looked ruffled, but immediately found his bearings, sneering at me and Erik in one quick movement.

"Manners are a virtue Erik," he glared pointedly, but Erik looked like he was about to snap at him again.

"Maybe you should have remembered that before you tried to slit her throat," He replied bluntly, his emerald eyes narrow.

"I get the feeling I'm no longer wanted here," sighed Alexei, smirking lightly. "I'll leave you to her, if that's what you want Erik. By the way, the resemblance is uncanny... I didn't suppose you noticed, had you?"

"Go," snapped Erik, ignoring him, his eyebrows furrowed. Alexei disappeared without another word, noiselessly. I was left with Erik, looking down at me imperiously. His expression never seemed to waver. He was like a perfect stone carving. I wanted to spit at him, do something bold and defiant, but I was caught somewhere between fear and amazement.

"Why did you kidnap me?" A shaky little sentence was the best I could come up with... Slowly the questions started pouring out. "What's this thing around my neck? Was it you who kidnapped Diana?"

He looked mildly disgusted at the last question.

"Not all vampires are the way you imagine them in stories," He said, though it was still clear he didn't like me. "Just a few. The vampire who took her was probably Jared. He's done it before, and he does it because he knows we don't like it. The girl's going to die regardless - it's too late, I can hear her heart slowing. There's nothing you can do."

I looked over at Diana, it was true, her skin felt chilling. I started to seethe again.

"How you calmly just take people from their homes?" I wanted to yell, but my voice was quiet again. "Like it doesn't matter. My family will be looking for me - they're famous, I'll even be in the news."

"Not like it matters here," he dismissed. "I told you, you are never going home." The velvety smoothness of the way he said it only panicked me further.

"Wh-why? How can you do that? It's, it's illegal and immoral and-"

He leaned down to my level, and looked into my eyes, dazzling me and stopping me midsentence. He pulled me up to my feet by my shoulders. I didn't struggle, because I knew I couldn't win against his overpowering strength. I did notice that his hands were warm today though. When he kidnapped me his hands had been stone cold.

I let him prop me up on the stone floor, sparing a glance down at Diana. Her eyes had shut. She was dead, I could feel it. Tears for her and me were on my face, and I turned away from Erik so he couldn't see them.

His voice was quieter. "You might have noticed, but there's something in your blood that's different from other humans. You don't react to the prescence of a vampire like other humans - when they're around us they gravitate towards us, drawn by pheromones, magnetism. You don't. I'm unsure why - maybe you were exposed to vampires as a child."

_Not that I can remember_, I thought to myself, but said nothing.

"Christoph has a theory," He continued. "He thinks that if you're immune to our pheromones, and his powers, then you are immune to our venom too. In which case, you are exactly what he has been looking for."

"And the necklace?" I asked, hearing my voice tremble.

"It's a marker; it shows that you're property of us. It allows us to track you, in case, somehow, you succeed in getting out of here."

I couldn't believe this. My mind refused to accept that it was true. But I didn't have a choice. I wiped the tears of my face with my sleeves, and took a steadying breath to calm myself. I turned to look at him, not really caring if there were red tear tracks on my face.

There was a snap from the other end as the door opened. I saw a shock of purple hair over a chalk white face. It was Zoe, looking more than just worried.

"Oh my god, Lilly!" She cried, and immediately shut her mouth when she saw the vicious look on Erik's face as he regarded her. She looked terrified. "P-please, forgive me, it was a mistake, I never meant to lose her - I'll do anything, just please don't-" Her face was so desperate, it was heartbreaking.

"For a mistake like this," said Erik, slowly, thoughtfully, his eyes trailed to her face, "I should have you destroyed."

"No!"

I barely realised it had been me who said that, until his eyes flickered to my face. His face still remained stony anyhow, without a trace of emotion - but I was sure I could see a slight tilt to his mouth, like he was amused by my impossibly _human_ reactions. He was impossible to decipher. I looked at Zoe, who had tears of fear welling in her eyes, and then back to him, my heart thudding.

"It was my fault," I admitted, "I wandered off - I heard noises and went to look for what they were, Zoe didn't notice I was gone, I hadn't told her. You can't kill her - it's not fair."

I knew he couldn't kill me (could he?) if he thought that my blood was so "_special_".

A devious smirk spread over his angelic face. He looked towards Zoe.

"Is this true?" There seemed to be a new kind of emotion in his voice, like he found this hilarious. It was still an undeniably good voice, despite the cruelty in it.

Zoe nodded ferociously, looking at me gratefully. Her face was flushed.

Erik turned back to me, his teeth showing, just. I my stomach felt like it had bats swooping around it - vampire bats.

"Well, in that case, human," he laughed, "You'll have to be punished."


	4. o4

**o4; erik's punishment; well no, it's not quite what i thought either.**

I stood, feeling the blood rush out of my face, leaving me pale as a sheet of paper. What kind of punishment was he talking about anyway? Was he going to bite me? He was a vampire after all, it seemed obvious. Then I thought of Diana - how she'd been kidnapped and raped before being left to starve, lost in the darkness - and shivers ran up my spine. Maybe I really _was_ going to die after all.

"Let's go," said Erik calmly, his flawless face betraying not even a hint of what exactly was going to happen to me. Before I could blink I had been picked up in his arms like I weighed nothing - and we were moving faster than I imagined was possible.

I opened my mouth to make a sound and I couldn't - like the rushing air was forcing my words back in my throat. Walls rushed past us - and suddenly any trace of normality was gone, and I could tell by the rotting smell, exactly where I was. What could be better for punishment than a torture dungeon, but of course? My mouth felt dry and fuzzy - I stared at Erik, the vampire, in shock, but his eyes were impenetrable.

When he I moved I swore it couldn't have been possible. A slight flicker and he was by my side, moving faster than anything I'd ever imagined. I remembered his arms restraining me tightly like steel bands. I couldn't outrun him, I couldn't fight him and if he bit me... My eyes slid unconsciously to his fangs, glittering through his confident smirk.

These might be the last minutes of my life, I realised numbly. I wondered if this would be the last time I thought this today.

I could feel the adrenaline rushing through me, but I couldn't bring myself to move. There was no point, in the end. I kept my eyes fixed on the mouldy wall ahead of me, trying to tear them away from the inhumanly beautiful creature next to me.

"Lilly?" My head jerked up automatically at the sound of my name. My arms pulled forward. And then I realised something. Cold, slightly rusted metal resisted the pull of my arms. His movements... I looked down. Shackles. _He's been chaining me to wall._ My heart was thudding nervously.

I think I heard him laugh, but I wasn't sure, I was watching his face so intently. A triumphant, mocking smirk spread over his sparkling face. Even despite being chained and fearful, I was dazzled. I thought of what happened to Diana... _Rape?_ I had no experience of sex at all. Pitiful for an almost seventeen year old, really... I stared at him, thinking grudgingly, _well at least he's not hideous - far from it really._

He was watching my face as if measuring my reactions, finding amusement at my shock, no doubt. I could see the perfect planes of his face in clarity - the strong jaw, cheekbones, the straight aristocratic nose and shatteringly intense eyes. His full lips were tugged upwards at the corners and he moved closer to me - slowly, irresistibly...

I vaguely remembered being told I was resistant to vampire pheromones. _I shouldn't be enjoying this, should I?_

He was so close I could feel his warm breath on my neck, smell the indescribably delicious scent of his skin. His eyes hadn't left my face, and I could feel my face flaming - curse my red haired tendencies. His smirk was now a full grin.

I felt the feather light touch of his lips on my collar bone - and he pulled away instantly. He stood back from me chuckling lightly. I didn't understand - then I did. I was pulling hard against my restraints - I could feel them digging into my skin. I wanted him. As soon as I realised it I stopped, feeling my face flush again, by now I must have been purple.

"Immune," he said almost playfully, his voice velvety smooth. "But clearly not entirely immune."

"Wh-what was that for?" I said, a little angry. I tugged fruitlessly at the damn shackles, not surprised that they didn't budge. Stupid strong perfect vampire.

"That was just for fun," he shrugged, his eyes sparkling at me, "Humans can be so entertaining... Do you want out now?" He laughed.

I glared at him in response, even though I knew he was sort of right. I had acted a bit stupidly. But that was what made it even more annoying. Erik glided past me wordlessly, undoing the bolts easily so that they fell off me.

"That was my punishment?" My voice was hoarse with disbelief. Another laugh escaped his lips, answering my question. _Entertaining... Of course._

"Most people seem to assume that vampires are creepy and morbid," He shrugged, "Why not go along with the joke?"

"You... You..." I couldn't think of a word offensive enough. Erik didn't even seem to notice - his previously dark and angry mood seemed to have evaporated, his face seemed almost serene now. He watched me stammer with an air of humour, watching as I spluttered to a halt. I glowered up at him, but he only smiled faintly.

"Now," He rolled his eyes, "I think perhaps it's time you ate. It's been what, a day? Humans eat three times a day, correct? It would probably be better for us you didn't starve."

I nodded blankly, comprehending only when my stomach snarled loudly. I'd forgotten how hungry I was...

In another movement so lightening fast I barely saw it, he picked me up, as if I weighed nothing, and the world around me started spinning again. Almost feeling nauseous I shut my eyes tightly until I was sure we'd stopped moving - though he moved so smoothly it was kind of difficult to tell when that was. Vampire definitely seemed the easiest way to get around here.

We stopped in a large grandiose room, with a vaulted ceiling and glittering chandeliers. That was the first thing I noticed, since my head had been pulled back by the speed of his seamless movement. This place never seemed to do anything halfway. I looked down and realised it was a dining room... Well, more like a sort of medieval banquet hall, really, only impossibly more grand and spooky - with heavy portraits of severe (but vampirishly attractive) faces. The tables were set, but even from here I could see the layer of dust coating the old silverware - no one around to use it, of course, vampires had a slightly different diet.

I was snapped out my thoughts when I was suddenly dropped - the solid arms beneath me whipping out of sight in milliseconds. I thumped onto the wood at Erik's feet, not bothering to censor my grumbling, I stood up. He raised an eyebrow at me, probably remarking on how fragile a human is or something.

"We do have some supplies of human food," he said briskly, "luckily for you. There was food prepared hours ago - if you'd been here." He pointed at the only space on the mile long table which looked like it had been dusted - a carton of cereal lying next to it. Now it was my turn to raise my eyebrow.

"Cereal?" I said, surprised.

"You expect everything to be so glamorous," he sighed, "It's not a movie dear."

"I wish it was," I said under my breath. I knew he caught it because he was smirking at me. I could feel my stomach growling at me ferociously, so I ignored his eyes boring into my skull and started eating determinedly, not looking away from the food. It was distracting, and sometimes I couldn't help but look up. He was still watching me - like he was examining me. I suddenly sympathised with lab rats in a way I had never known possible.

"Would you stop that?" I finally snapped at him. His expression didn't change, he just noted boredly: "You eat your cereal dry."

I shrugged, cast my eyes down again and kept eating. It was amazing how quickly I went through it, I was really hungry. I hadn't eaten since yesterday after all. I hoped my Mom hadn't panicked too much about my disappearance. I wish I could tell her I was safe somehow...

"Hah, I found you!" A soprano voice trilled triumphantly. I looked up, surprised.

Sitting across from me at the table was a girl who looked no older than eight, but whose eyes gave away her centuries of life. She was like a china doll in miniature, with porcelain skin, deep violet eyes and rosy lips. Her white blonde hair was tied in a silky blue ribbon, and she wore a matching azure dress, with ruffles and bows, just like a doll's dress. She smiled at me, but despite her enchanting face, the smile had no warmth in it. Her tiny, deadly sharp fangs glittered at the corners of her mouth.

A vampire child. Eight on the outside, but how old was she mentally? It was haunting - a centurian trapped in the body of a child.

"This is Catherine," said Erik, watching her carefully, "Cath, this is Lilly. You know the rules."

"Oh, of course I do, Erik," she replied snappily, and then she turned back to me, her voice once again saccharine sweet. "Erik's so bossy - he seems to think that just because Christoph likes him he can tell everyone to do as he says. He's so arrogant. Honestly," she murmured, watching me sharply, "Not even allowed a taste. What a waste."

I stared open-mouthed, no idea what to say. I felt shivers racing up my spine, but she just smiled calmly at me, her delicate fingers drumming a quick beat onto the tabletop.

"Still, I wonder what Chistoph plans to do with you?" She giggled childishly. "Erik, you know don't you?" She pouted cutely. Obviously, she was perfectly aware of how adorable she was, and had probably used it to twist people around her finger thousands of times.

"We have a few ideas," He said simply, and dropped the matter.

"Anyway," smirked Catherine, "I can see what Alexei meant. Now, he really doesn't like you right now Erik - he's afraid that you're going to win the castle. Poor jealous thing," she looked at me, explaining. "Christoph owns this castle - and quite a castle it is, I suppose. Erik and Alexei were both turned by Christoph, so when, or if, Christoph dies, one of them will inherit the castle. Alexei used to be his only son, but after Erik joined us... Well, Alexei's not the favourite anymore."

"I don't care about the castle," Erik rolled his eyes, "But he still thinks I'm lying to him, all I want is..." He trailed away, and I could tell he wasn't going to finish that sentence, because he looked at the table, his mouth a thin line.

"Yes, well," Catherine said smoothly, "Alexei never lets go of his grudges... Anyway, I just wanted to see you, Lilly. Humans don't come here a lot - and never before like this. You get bored when you have an infinite amount of time on your hands... I'm nearly three hundred you know."

Clearly my surprise was obvious because her mouth twisted into a small half-smile at my reaction.

"I was turned into a vampire a long time ago - I had lived in America with my parents, in old Massachussets. Both of them had died due to disease, and I was on my way there too," She smiled fondly at the gruesome memory. "But right before I passed away holding onto my mother's dead body, I was saved by a pitiful vampire. It was only after a few years I realised that I would never grow up - that was when I really lost my temper..." Her face darkened dramatically, "But Christoph found me, thankfully."

I didn't know what I could say to that - I was so amazed, and scared. This vampire child was a lot more unstable than her outer-self showed. She was watching me now, every movement, analysed.

"Alexei's right, they are so similar, Erik." She said sweetly, but there was a harsh note in her voice.

"Don't, Cath." He gave her an intense warning look, turning the full power of his eyes on her.

I watched on mystified at the way they were talking about me, like I wasn't even sitting here.

The little girl glared at him sharply and sprang up again. "You can't expect them to be the same, she's human, as if that's not enough Erik! Yet here you are, _carrying_ her around the castle like she's your pet or something!" Her little arms had been flung up in the air in exasperation, and she stamped one of her feet childishly. "_She_ isn't coming back Erik, why can't you just move on?"

There was something to the tilt of her mouth which almost made me wonder if she was jealous. I could believe that - a strong, powerful and almost doll-like in perfection _vampire_, why would she be jealous?

"Catherine," his mouth was hard, "I already told you-"

"This human," Her sapphire eyes flashed towards me angrily, "This human is not Victoria, Erik." Her eyes turned back to him sadly, even with longing - an emotion that looked strange on a child's face. "And that is all I wanted to say."

She disappeared, moving so quickly I hardly saw her dance away. What had she been talking about? _Victoria._ It was a pretty name, I thought. But who was she - and what did she have to do with me? I was going to ask Erik, then I saw his face.

It was cold and angry, the fury barely concealed beneath the surface. He looked up, but he looked straight through me, his eyes piercing a hole in my head. I saw the tensed muscles in his arms, his hands digging into the table so I wondered if it would snap... But he regained control. His face became blank.

"You are being returned to your room," he growled at me, looking at my face, but not seeing me. His previous good humour seemed only a dream compared to this. "You will not leave the room unless sent for. Your food and clothes will be delivered by the staff."

I shut my mouth and nodded, knowing that if I said a word he'd rage again.

The first thing I did when I was returned to my room (he hadn't carried me this time, so we'd walked in complete silence, me struggling to keep up) was write. Letters to my parents and my sister and my friends. Though I knew they'd never get them.

When I looked outside it was dark - but I didn't know the time. It had started snowing on the hills, and I remembered the date at home (who knew if this place was the same) was the twenty seventh of November. It was my birthday in less than two weeks. And who knew if I'd still be alive by then.


	5. o5

**o5; nightmares, imprisonment... and a party? what kind of kidnapping is this?**

I knew it was a dream, but even as I was in it, I couldn't doubt it was the most vivid dream I'd ever had. The light was pale and clear, and I was wandering the hallways of the monstrous castle. I was looking for something, but what? I didn't know. All I knew was that if I didn't find it then surely I was doomed. Then I would be destroyed, perhaps.

The heavy necklace that had been fused to my neck felt hot and uncomfortable - and immensely heavier. It was weighing me down - slowing me. I'd never find what I had to if I didn't get rid of this thing. I dug my nails, deep underneath the silver on my neck - feeling a slight stinging sensation as it tried to fight back. With impossible inhuman strength I twisted the metal like it was soft cheese, before ripping it entirely off my neck. The vampires couldn't find me now. I was free.

I had to hurry though, I was running out of time. How did I get out of here? This place was so confusing... I picked a door, it was heavy and easily the biggest door in this corridor, with heavy brass handles which I used to wrench it open. And then I was standing in the entrance hall of the castle - darkly decorated, but beautiful. And I could see the door out of here. I was running for it - I had to get away from here, that's where I would find what I was looking for. Outside. And if the vampires caught me running away...

The ground was covered in thick snow, but I hardly felt it's coldness on my bare feet because I was running so hard across the grounds. Running so fast I was flying. Through the ancient gardens, beyond the crumbling granite fountain, and through the shrubs and trees. Right to the iron gate that lead into the forest. Shaking in fear, I pulled it open.

Here marked the line that separated the slightly civilised from the pure wild. Before me was dark tangled undergrowth, and trees so big they blocked all light from entering the untameable forest. The thing I had to find was here.

I stepped forward.

I woke up with my nails clawing at the sheets and a silent scream on my lips. My body was damp and clung to the sheets uncomfortably, and I knew, with wholehearted disappointment that I was still in my locked room, miles away from home. I'd been kidnapped and removed from reality, I suppose nightmares were to be expected. Annoyed at myself, I tried to go back to sleep - but was plagued with the same images flashing through my mind, accompanied with panic. Something had been lost... And I couldn't find it.

I gave up on trying to sleep at all when the sun came up. What was even worse than the nightmares was the boredom I now faced. I checked the drawer for the blackberry - it was still there to my relief but I didn't turn it on because I couldn't drain the battery. So I got out the notebook, which was rapidly filling up, and doodled aimlessly. Looking back I realised that lots of my scribbles included eyes. Piercing green ones which burned through you...

_Urgh._ I flung it back into the drawer with the pen, annoyed. I had a total of zero people I could trust in this place - and the only person who'd attempted to protect me was a cold, arrogant vampire with violent mood swings. Definitely no one I could trust.

There was a knock at the door, and I heard the click of a key in the lock. I looked up, knowing who it would be and why they were here. A familiar head of frazzled purple hair entered the room - and this time Zoe was carrying a tray, and some clothes stuffed under her arm.

I remembered the last time I'd seen her, begging for Erik's mercy, and I gave her a smile, as warm as I could manage.

"So you're alive," she grinned at me, seeming relieved. She set the tray down on the desk, it was rattling haphazardly in her grip. I saw I had a whole fried breakfast and that was good.

"Did you make this?" I asked her, thankful.

"Nah, we staff have a cook, Andrew," she laughed, "If I'd made it, you'd probably puke. I'm a rubbish chef.... I have more clothes for you by the way, sorry if they're not really you're style or something - I can go get more. This castle has _everything_, including a wardrobe the size of a house. It's actually pretty cool."

I eyed the artfully ripped designer jeans and the top and shrugged, it would do. I was rarely ever that stylishly dressed at home.

"Thanks for saving me yesterday," She gushed gratefully, "Honestly, that's the most terrified I've been in my life. It's strange, because you can't help but be drawn to vampires - even when you know they want to kill you..."

"Pheromones," I said, remembering my discussion with Alexei. "It's why they brought me here I think - they say that I'm immune to them or something. I don't know what they want me for though."

"You don't feel it?" She looked surprised, her brown eyes widening underneath her magenta fringe. "I wish I was like that... It's so embarrassing when they such control over you." Her mouth straightened, like she was remembering something.

A thought occurred to me then.

"Zoe... You work here, right?" I asked, and she nodded. "When I got here they told me that I'd never get to leave. _Ever._" It was painful to think about it, let alone talk about. I could help but wince. Zoe nodded patiently, taking a seat across from me on my bed. "Will you get to leave? And the other humans that work here?"

"Well, the story is for me that I'm on a gap year from my college in Seattle," she shrugged, "So I think they'll have to let me leave. But I'm sworn not to mention the existence of vampires to any human. My parents think that I'm doing charity work in Australia... I call them sometimes."

"You phone them?" I stared at her. Already a plan forming in my head. "This place has a phone?"

"Mhmm, I don't know how they managed it," she said, knowing exactly where this was going and frowning. "No signal on cell phones though."

"Zoe," I pleaded, putting on my best puppy eyes, "You _have_ to let me use that phone. I need to call my parents, I promise I won't even tell them anything about where I am, or about vampires or anything, I just want my Mom to know that I'm safe and not to worry."

"Lilly..." She sighed, looking guilty, "I really want to help you. I mean, I owe you my life. But I've been warned personally by the "vampire prince" himself," she inserted an eye-roll, "If I let you out this room I'll be publicly disembowelled... And I'm not going to cross a vampire. All I can do is bring you stuff, I can't take you out of here, or this time I really will get killed for it. I'm sorry Lilly."

She looked like she really was, so I didn't say anything.

"If you can only bring me things..." I sighed, "How about some books? I have nothing to do in this place, and it's driving me insane."

"That I can manage," she smiled kindly.

So in the next three days I read my way through about five novels. I even read at night, when I wasn't having nightmares. I didn't see any sign of Erik, which was perfectly fine with me. The less vampires I saw, the better...

The forest was dim and tangling around me, but that didn't matter because I knew where I was going. The thing I was looking for was close. Very close. Snow was falling around me, and as I tramped through the forest, still wearing the clothes I'd fallen asleep in, my bare feet left tracks in the snow behind me. The castle was blocked from my sight now, trees hid everything beyond them, so the only colours I could see were white and green, and more green. I knew that there were beasts in this forests - I could feel eyes on my back. I didn't pay this any worry though, I had to find it.

I stopped suddenly, and the trees ahead of me seemed to open up into a clearing. The ground here was mossy and springy under the snow. I looked ahead and smiled at the familiar cliff jutting out over me. Up that cliff was the thing I had to find, I could feel it calling me. It needed me... Was it alive?

My hands gripped the cold rocks, and slowly I began to climb. It wasn't as difficult as it should have been, because I was dreaming; in real life I would have slipped and cracked my head long ago. Somehow the wall seemed to evaporate under my hands and I was standing on the top of the cliff in no time at all, marvelling at the height I had reached. I could almost see the top of the distant castle peering at me over the trees, and for some reason, it made me angry.

"Li...lly...?"

A frail, childish voice was calling out to me, and I turned, trying to see where it had come from. I saw a tiny form, moving out from behind a snow covered pine - crawling towards me... I gasped in shock.

Awake again, only this time I was afraid. My breathing was fast and shallow, and shut my eyes and huddled up under the blankets, trying to forget the face of what I'd just seen. Not because it was something scary. Very far from that.

The child that reached out for me, the thing I'd searched for, was my oldest sister, Adrienna's one year old son. My nephew.

I had only seen him a couple times as a baby. After Adrienna had gotten married, she and her husband moved to New York, because that was where he worked. Jason Thomas was a soccer player - apparently quite a good one, not that I'd known him very well. Him and Adrienna would only see us at Thanksgiving and Christmas, sometimes in the summer. I had seen their son, Jack Thomas, about three times, that was all.

He was a really cute kid, and I remembered perfectly what he looked like. Curly black hair and little dimples on the side of his face when he smiled. I wasn't one to gush over babies, but he was a cute one.

The child in the dream was him, his perfect image. Only one thing was different, and it scared me. Jack's eyes were brown like his father's. The Jack in my dream, reaching towards me the forest, his eyes were crystal blue and ice cold. I knew them, but I didn't know from where... It didn't matter.

I wondered for a moment if my nightmares were trying to tell me something. Was my nephew in trouble? What would he be doing here in anyway? But, hell if vampire were supposed to be impossible, then maybe this was true as well...

_Stop overreacting Lilly_, I snapped at myself for thinking such rubbish. Of course I was dreaming about my family, I missed them! I was just being irrational. Of course I was.

But I didn't sleep again that night, worry was gnawing at my mind the whole time.

That morning, as per usual, Zoe unlocked my door to drop off food and clean clothes. But today something was different, because the clothes she dropped off were a lot more extravagant. Her face was excited, and she grinned at me, not even noticing the circles under my eyes.

"Christoph's come back from Europe tonight," she said breathlessly, setting down my food. I didn't touch it, I didn't feel much like eating right now. "They're throwing him a party of course - you know how dramatic vampires are. Since Christoph's the King of all vampires and all that, he gets a fuss made of him all the time. He wants you to go, Lilly - he wants to meet you."

"You mean I'm getting out of here?" I smiled, hopeful at the thought of freedom.

"Yeah, well," Zoe grinned back, "For a few hours at least. I'll be there too..." she inserted a laugh, "Only I'll be serving drinks I suppose. You should see the guest list, Lilly, it's huge - I never knew there were so many vampires in the world! You wouldn't believe it - people from all over the world, and not just vampires either..."

I started to feel a little nervous. Hundreds or bloodthirsty vampires, at a party - and me: puny, delicious human. Did the famed Christoph want to meet me or eat me?

"Zoe..."

"Oh, relax!" She rolled her eyes, "None of them will touch you if Christoph says so - he's like a god to them, they'd never cross him. See, when he's not here, people tend to break the rules a little more..."

I remembered the Diana incident, and nodded in agreement - that had supposedly been against the rules.

"Now Christoph's back, everyone'll be on better behaviour," She smiled reassuringly. "Alexei And Catherine won't even attempt to eat you tonight."

I hadn't even thought about that, and now that I had I was even more worried. Luckily Zoe's enthusiasm was catching, and I was pretty happy just with the idea of being able to walk in room longer than ten feet. I started to push my worries and the nightmares out of my mind, focus on being positive... Then my eyes trailed to the dress that Zoe was laying out for me on my bed.

"I'll help you get ready, they let me do that much," She said cheerfully, "The vampires already picked you out a dress, and Erik'll take you to meet Christoph before the party, in case you don't get a chance to speak - he'll be busy talking to all the guests of course..." She trailed away once she noticed my expression of shock and disgust. "What?"

"There is _no way_ I am putting that on, Zoe."

The dress was hardly even fit to be called that - it looked so short it could have just been a kind of long top. I wasn't just saying this either - that dress would bare a lot more skin than I had ever been comfortable with showing. I had always been a bit of a tomboy and had never liked dresses anyway - but this was too much. It was black, skin-tight and backless, and dangerously low cut. Not even my mother, who was pretty happy with anything my sisters had worn to parties, would like this.

"Don't be difficult, Lilly," Zoe sighed, "I'll make you wear it, even if I have to use force. I didn't bring these stacks of make-up here with me for nothing..."

I would never have pinned the purple haired, combat boot wearing Zoe as a closet girly-girl... Unfortunately, it seemed like I had been wrong. She put on an innocent face, looking up at the ceiling.

"I mean, it's not like I picked it out, Lilly," she cooed, "Plus, you have no idea what vampire parties are like - and trust me, compared to some of them, you'll be very conservative... You need to be confident to survive with vampires."

I chewed my lip, eyeing the offending dress, wishing this could be different.

"Fine," I finally relented, after a long moment of indecision.

An evil grin spread across Zoe's face. I wondered what I'd just left myself in for.

"When I'm done with you, Lilly, you'll be so stunning that you'd get mistaken for a vampire yourself."


	6. o6

**o6; meeting the "vampire king", and about a hundred other assorted monsters... eep.**

My reflection smiled confidently at me - the tired lines under her eyes had been erased by make up and any mark on her sparkling pale skin concealed by foundation. Her eyes were ringed with silver (matching the tracking collar on her neck) and her eyes sparkled with excitement. Her flaming hair was loose and soft on her shoulders. The dress, I had to admit, even on me, looked sexy. There was no other word for it - Zoe had worked magic.

However inside, I was shivering nervous wreck. I was going to get destroyed, surely.

Zoe smiled at her creation proudly, "Lilly, you look wicked - you scrub up pretty well, I must say."

"Hah, well..." I mumbled, trailing away, unable to string together a coherent sentence. I must have been insane. Why was I doing this again? Oh yeah, the vampire king, the biggest nastiest vampire there was, wanted to see me. _This was very bad._

"Anywaaay," she looked at her watch, "I better go, they'll be annoyed if I show up late. Now, don't touch your face while I'm gone, right? I don't want my art ruined. Erik should be up here in a few minutes anyway... See ya downstairs, Lilly."

And with a small chuckle at the expense of my fear - damn her - she left me. Locking the door. She must have known I would try and run.

I remembered Erik's face the last time I'd seen him, and my stomach squirmed uncomfortably. He'd been scary angry. Furious. Because little Catherine had been talking about someone called Victoria. Someone I looked like apparently - but every time it was brought up Erik got angry, and I valued my life too much to ask him about it. Did he still hate me, or had his mood flipped again? Either way I wasn't sure I was looking forward to this.

I heard the ominous click as the door unlocked. I put on my shoes - heels which were much too high for me to walk in properly. I guessed I was supposed to look like a hooker, I thought with a sigh.

Erik stood at the door, and looked me over slowly and arrogantly like I was a piece of meat. As usual his electric green gaze was impossible to ignore, and I felt my face heating up - the curse of red hair. I glared at him and he smirked widely.

"Time to go, human," he said in his velvet smooth tone. I noticed that he was dressed a lot sharper today, obviously, as it was a party, but if I had to put a price on his clothes it would have been over a thousand dollars, easily. He hadn't done anything with his hair, but if I hadn't seen it exactly like this last time I'd seen him, I'd assume that the way it looked like he'd just gotten out of bed (or his coffin, whatever) had been achieved through some sort of product.

"Is this dress really necessary?" I fumed at him. His grin widened, exposing his fangs.

"The maid mentioned you didn't like it," he said calmly, "But yes, it is, unless you want to stick out - which I don't think you'd appreciate, in a room full of vampires."

I scowled at him, but he had a point.

He started walking, too quickly again, and I was forced to walk after him, trying to keep up - and in four inch heels, it wasn't happening. I had to run before he disappeared around a twisting corner, and went flying over a loose floorboard.

I never even got a chance to hit the ground, Erik reappeared, moving so fast he was just a blur. I felt his arms underneath me - and suddenly his face was way too close to mine. His emerald eyes stared relentlessly into my face, and I fought to keep from blushing, mustering the nastiest look I could manage. For a moment he seemed not even to react - then he blinked, and the confident smirk returned. He put me back on my feet, chuckling under his breath.

"Try not get yourself killed before we get there," he said, laughing.

"Maybe if you didn't walk so fast," I snarled, "Then I would have to chase after you in these stupid shoes - which _you_ made me wear."

"I don't regret it," he said mockingly, "It's funny how easily you lose your balance... I wouldn't do it in front of the other vampires though," His face became a little more serious. "They don't need an exhibition of how pathetic you are - that's like an invitation to eat you."

"Oh, thanks," I replied sarcastically, but noted that he had slowed his pace a little bit.

"Shouldn't you be more scared of me, human?" He looked annoyed, his eyes narrowed, but his mouth was relaxed so I knew he wasn't angry. The same question had occurred to me more than once when I was with him actually... It was strange to say, and sounded stupid, but I supposed that we he was around I actually felt safer. He was the only vampire who hadn't seemed like he wanted to devour me, that was probably it. Maybe I was thinking too much about this...

"I'm living in a haunted castle," I shrugged, nonchalantly as possible, "Maybe I'm getting used to it?"

"I've lived here for a hundred and sixty years, and I still hate this place," He replied dully, "Don't be stupid."

"If you hate it then why do you stay?" I asked, just wondering. I was still stumbling every few steps in these stupid shoes, which Erik seemed to find greatly amusing.

"I'm Christoph's adopted son," He said simply, "It's like a contract. Me and Alexei can come and go if we want to, but we'll always wind up here in the end..." His eyes became distant for a few minutes. I guessed you couldn't run away from being royalty no matter what species you were. Leaving him to ponder, I took the time to concentrate on how I was walking - completely gracelessly, no doubt.

After travelling down two flights of stairs (I nearly fell about five times) and along several winding hallways we found Christoph's study - marked with an ornately carved black archway instead of a door. I shivered... The vampire "king". Did that mean he was really evil? Erik watched me as I walked through the doorway - as though he thought I would attempt to run. Like it would make a difference.

The tall, sandy-haired vampire smiling at me with twinkling white teeth was certainly not what I had been expecting... He wasn't macabre at all. He looked like he'd just been plucked off a beach in L.A. His eyes were dark grey and they were the strongest part of his appearance - they were guarded, intelligent, set in a oddly likeable, tanned face. I noted that despite his tan, his skin had a strange papery look, like the membrane was thin and worn - and his eyes duller than they should have been. This vampire was _old_.

But what was old in vampire years? Catherine had said she was three hundred, and she was still young.

He offered me a hand to shake and not wanting to offend, I took it. His skin was cool, but not cold.

"I'm sure you've been told about me," He said cordially, "But I'll introduce myself anyway - my name is Christoph. This is technically my castle you've been living in the past few days, and it was on my orders you were taken."

The way his fangs shone as he talked made me rethink about complaining to him. There was something about him that made you know that he was in control, and he used it to his advantage. I answered quickly, unable to stop myself.

"Lilly," I replied, my voice pale and insignificant in comparison to his. I winced at the sound of it. I was afraid.

"You don't seem to be dazzled by my presence at all," He said, sounding relatively pleased, his eyes searching my face. "In fact, I scare you, your human adrenaline is simply pounding. You might be exactly what I've been looking for, Lilly."

"How can you-"

"I'm an old vampire, little one," he said simply, "We're quite accustomed the scent of fear. But you are the only one of your kind I have seen in my whole life..." He watched my every twitch of movement, curiously, "If I were to bite you... What would happen? If you're truly immune to us - our powers, our venom... Then can you cancel it out entirely? To turn a vampire into a mortal is a fearsome power to wield - which is why I must have you."

I swallowed hard, trying to ignore his gaze on my face, looking anywhere but at him. Erik was watching intently, but looked up when Christoph.

"Erik, my dark angel," he said with a quirk of his mouth, "If you were to bite her... Then who knows what you would become. How curious..."

Erik frowned, and I was left once again to wonder at what Christoph was talking about. All the mysteries were really starting to get to me. I ground my teeth to keep my legs from shaking. Was someone about to plunge their teeth into my neck or not? My senses were screaming at me to run, but I couldn't move.

"You're even managing to disable my powers as we speak," mused Christoph, "It's very unique." He flicked his finger at the floor, and I saw with horror, and inky blackness spread out from where he stood, the shadows massing around him until they started to flow steadily up the walls. I stepped back trying to avoid them... I heard someone growl, as I panicked. But at my feet, around me, they stopped. They were unable to touch me.

This vampire seemed able to control the darkness itself, I thought.

"Relax Erik," Christoph said calmly, "I'm not going to destroy her - she's much too useful for that. Of course we'll have to test it first. Afraid, child?"

His eyes were back on me, and I knew he was listening to my heartbeat, thumping loudly in my chest like a jackhammer. There was no need to answer, I could feel my face draining with colour. The tall bronze vampire smiled sadistically at me with papery lips.

"You haven't even met the other guests yet," He said with a bark of laughter, "My, this will be interesting won't it? I have a feeling I won't regret bringing you." He turned back to Erik, "Let's go, Erik, Lilly, shall we?"

Erik nodded slowly - it was clear he didn't fully trust Christoph, but he seemed to respect him. After Alexei's taunts of being "Christoph's pet" I understood, Erik had to do as Christoph said, or be destroyed.

"Carry the human," he nodded at Erik, "Or we won't reach the party for days."

Emotionlessly Erik did as he was told, and once again, I was picked up off the ground and we were flying forwards, air rushing past. When my feet hit the ground again (it was like I'd hardly been picked up at all, it was so fast) we stood at huge marble doors - inside of which I could hear the tinkling of beautiful voices and the pounding of bass...

When I had thought of vampire's party, I had originally envisioned depressing chamber music and Victorian era styled clothing. I had been very wrong.

The room I'd stepped in looked like stylish new Manhattan nightclub, only inside the people were a hundred times more beautiful and exotic that that. The faces briefly illuminated by the multicoloured flash lighting were sharp and deadly - all my potential murderers. Many heads turned as Christoph and Erik walked into the room. People who were dancing to the furious, thudding dance music smiled with acknowledgement.

I followed behind them, terrified, absolutely sure they'd smell my blood in a second and pounce on me. I was doomed...

But apparently not. As I stumbled in their wake on unsteady legs curious faces turned to look at me - but no one even paused in their conversation long enough to spare me a passing glance. Christoph fell back into step with me for a second, and smiled reassuringly.

"None of the humans here in this room are in any danger," He said smoothly, "My rules - no eating our staff. Enjoy yourself."

Then someone in the crowd, vampire, or perhaps something else entirely (there were a lot of strange looking people here) caught his attention, and he swanned towards them, playing the host perfectly.

Now I was lost. There were people everywhere, and I knew not a single one of them. I stared in awe at the all the weirdness - an aristocratic man whose skin shimmered opaque in the light from the bar he sat at, an exotic woman with tumbling dark hair whose dress was made entirely out of _living _butterflies resting on her skin, and a group of people with glittering scales on their skin and forked tongues like snakes. Vampires clearly weren't the only race here tonight. I shut my mouth, realised it was open in simple atonishment.

Zoe had been right about the dress too - most of the girls here were dressed so provocatively they might as well have been wearing lingerie - no, they probably were. They were so beautiful, everywhere... I never really considered myself ugly before now, but compared to the perfection around me, I looked like dirt.

That was where Erik was right now, actually. I spied him out the corner of my eye - surrounded by a flock of particularly promicuously dressed woman with huge feathery grey wings that stemmed out of their backs like angels... Except they had powerful looking clawed feet. _Vultures then?_ One of them; one with glorious fire engine red hair had gripped his hand, pulling him against her impressive chest, probably whispering seductively.

"Harpies," came a clear musical voice from beside me, informing on what they were.

I turned to see a female vampire with a wry smile on her blood red lips, watching them warily. For a vampire woman, she was especially stunning, and I was initially awe-struck by her at first - long curling mahogany hair, and clear hazel eyes, set into a face that (if she had been human) truly belonged on magazine covers and in make-up adverts. She turned to face me - her silver dress rippling against her perfectly shaped form, and I wanted to tear my hair out in pure jealousy of her beauty.

"What's a harpy?" I asked, aware of how thick that had made me sound, and cursing it.

"Bird-women," she sang, "Particularly... Persuasive. Just like mermaids - total whores. I can't stand them, but Erik is one of their favourites. Because he has wings too, I bet." I noticed how she watched him possessively, and I wondered if she was in love with Erik too. He really seemed to have a lot of girls who wanted him, I thought to myself, remembering Catherine, seeing the moony expressions of the faces of the girls who saw him.

Erik smirked in that familiar confident way; he seemed to be trying to brush the harpies away - but the looks they gave him were determined, even desperate. Suddenly I realised what I was seeing - vampire pheromones at work.

"Bet you're glad you're immune now, aren't you?" The beautiful woman said sadly, "You can see the kind of monsters that they turn people into."

"Do you know me?" I asked her quickly, and she gave me a slight smile.

"You're _Lilly_, every vampire living in this castle knows about you," she said with a laugh. "You're Christoph's latest project... My name's Celeste, in case you wanted to know. I was curious about you, everyone was remarking that you looked like Victoria." She looked me over demurely, nodding. "You do a little."

"Who is Victoria?" I said, getting annoyed with the way everyone compared me to her. I didn't even know her! It was getting very irritating.

"Victoria was a friend of mine," Celeste said simply, with a shrug, "But she died. Anything more is not my story to tell, I'm afraid, you'll have to ask Erik. He'll probably not tell you, I'm sorry."

I sighed, well, I supposed it was a start.

"Anyway, perhaps we should move on?" She smiled, looking brighter this time, "There's quite a few people who are very curious to see you, if you don't mind meeting them, that is."

"Um, sure," I agreed nervously, just glad I had someone to talk to, instead of hanging around looking stupid. It's not like they were allowed to rip my throat out. Celeste actually seemed vaguely nice, which was something new to me, considering vampires. I let her lead towards some seats, close to the bar, where a group of yet more beautiful people reclined, talking amongst themselves over the music.

The conversation ebbed to a halt when Celeste arrived with me in tow. She offered me a seat, which I took, tentatively, then she introduced me. I already knew some of the faces, but they weren't so pleased to see me.

"This is Lilly," said Celeste, "Christoph's human."

I was met with some friendly faces, some people clearly didn't care, and some people downright sneered in my face. Among these people was Catherine - today she was dressed in an adorable shimmering pink doll's frock, which caused her sapphire blue eyes to sparkle. Her head whipped up to Celeste in outrage, sending her platinum curls bouncing haphazardly.

"How can you even speak to her?" She cried in her child's voice, though I could hear the tones of the woman underneath. Her eyes were fixed on me, looking at me like I was zit she wanted to pop. "I thought you felt the same way as me?!"

"You know that I haven't changed, Cath," Celeste said, rising to my defence, glaring. "But to be jealous because of a mere human... Don't be _childish_."

Catherine shut her little mouth abruptly, obviously affected by Celeste's insult, and consoled herself by glaring at me for as long as I sat here. I avoided looking at her, bravely sticking it out. I felt a pang of pity for her. A woman trapped in a child's body, and in love with someone who couldn't possibly love her back... It was sad. I assumed that Celeste was Erik's girlfriend - she was too perfect not to be.

"This is Felix," For each name she gestured to a face at the table, "This is Jared, you already know Alexei," He gave me a bored look, nothing more, "This is Logan, Kay, and this is Giselle."

Felix was broad shouldered and brawny, and grinned at me heartily, not seeming evil at all. Jared was slimmer and good-looking, with an elegant smile. There was something about Logan that made me think he wasn't a vampire at all - and I was right, no fangs. Kay was tall and slender and dark-skinned with curly black hair and full lips. Giselle was the stunning woman I had seen before - with forest green eyes and a dress purely made of butterflies.

"Um, hi," I stammered, feeling a little braver than before, "Nice to meet you."


	7. o7

**A/N: Hiya. :) just a wee note to let you know that updates will probably start slowing down a little bit sooner. :| Sorry, but I can't keep it up forever. My time on the computer's pretty limited, plus I'm in the year of school where it matters now, and my social life (snort) takes up time too... Basically, I'll try but I can't guarantee anything...**

**Ahhhh, stress... xD**

**Also, I've been toying with ideas for names for my story. "Stolen" is a little dull I think. If anyone has any ideas then let me know. :)**

**o7; finally, the breaking point!**

Sitting with the vampire was surprisingly easy, considering the not-so-warm welcome they'd initially given me. I answered their questions about my life as a human - the vampire called Kay was especially interested in it - she quickly informed me that she was only proper vegetarian vampire, with a touch of pride, and had never drank human blood in her life.

"See, if I never try it then I can't get hooked on the stuff," she said, smiling. "Instead, I drink animal blood, deer usually, but wilder animals like bears and big cats are nicer. I would feel to guilty if I killed someone innocent..."

_Wow, some vampires had consciences_, I thought, amazed.

"I don't know how you do it," Felix muttered, looking at her in admiration. It was pretty clear they were a couple - despite them not even sitting near each other, you could see it in their eyes. "Human blood's like heroin to me..."

Most of the others nodded in agreement.

"I couldn't even imagine drinking blood to live," said Giselle contemplatively. "I suppose you vampires must be a lot stronger than we fairies, but I still don't think I'd rather be a vampire - though you are compelling, I admit." She laughed to herself, at a joke no one else seemed to understand.

"If you're a fairy, you live out in the forest don't you?" I asked, genuinely curious. Before now, I thought fairies were just a myth too - like vampires, for instance. Apparently every fairy tale I'd ever heard was actually true. As for the forest... I'd seen it out my window, and in my dreams, but I'd always wondered at the kind of creatures that lived in it.

Giselle nodded to me good-naturedly, "The Black Forest, yes." She spoke with a heavy accent that I couldn't really place.

Well, it was obvious to anyone why it was called that, the shrouding darkness that sprawled across it was tangible even from a distance.

"A dangerous place, but my people are a powerful force there," she smiled at me. "We don't live quite as long as vampires of course - about two hundred at the oldest. I supposed you never believed in fairies before now, hm?" She lifted an eyebrow, understanding perfectly.

"Anyone want drinks?" I heard someone ask, "Jared, Cath? _Lilly_?"

"Logan, don't be stupid," Celeste chastised, "You know what our kind of drink would do to a human."

I looked at her questioningly, and she replied simply, "Vampires have a very strong constitution - in other words, what it takes to get a vampire tipsy would probably melt a human's insides."

I grimaced, "Sorry I asked."

"Aw, it's no big deal," Logan said, his mouth quirking humorously. "I'm not a vampire either. It would still be pretty hard to kill me though - nice to meet you, I'm what many people know as the Grim Reaper. And I mean that seriously."

I stared, surprised. He chuckled - surprisingly likable for the lord of death or whatever. He had black hair (what else) and smiling brown eyes, and he didn't look older than twenty - but I'd learned quickly not judge people on their looks. I noticed that he was wearing black gloves on both hands. He saw me looking.

"People who touch my skin always seem to end up dying," He informed me, "A bit misfortunate really - so I tend to keep covered."

"Well, I guess now I can say that I met the Grim Reaper and lived to tell people about it," I laughed, feeling almost happy now, for the first time in days.

"We're at a party, right? Why isn't anyone dancing yet?" Felix was laughing, on his third or fourth drink.

"Good point," I heard throaty laugh from Giselle, the fairy. Giselle was invited to the party because she was royalty in her large group of fairies - she lived out in the forest normally. "Actually, I need to go find someone - I think I'm needed elsewhere." She stood up in a flutter of wings and winked back at us as she stepped elegantly through the crowd.

Next to disappear was Celeste, who said she was off to go socialise, and then Kay and Felix got up to dance. Jared was busy flirting with a human waitress, she was powerless against his vampires charms, and Catherine and Alexei had stalked off quite a while a while ago now. Suddenly it was just me and Logan left talking. He smirked at me.

"Feeling daring, Lilly?"

"What?" He took my hand and pulled my out of my seat in one of his gloved hands.

"A dance with death?" He said, making himself sound so desperately corny that I had to laugh at him. "Oh, go on, I'll be careful."

"Sure," I said cheerfully.

I didn't know here the sudden burst of confidence had come from, but it carried me all the way to the dance floor. To Logan's credit, he was careful, making sure his bare skin never touched mine - but still, we danced well. The music was loud and bouncy and it carried me along, happy, I was forgetting about all my worries... And it was nice. I lost myself in the music, almost forgetting my dire situation for a while.

Suddenly, the music started to slow from it's fun, happy beat to something slower and more soulful. Of course, I thought, _how cliché..._ None-the-less, Logan happily put his hands around my waist, and we swayed contentedly. He was, predictably, a much better dancer than me.

I saw a few people I knew out the corner of my eye, Kay, dancing with Felix, even smiled at me. The I looked up at Logan and something very strange happened. His eyes had turned pure black and he was looking at me strangely. His previous smile had vanished and been replaced with an oddly blank expression. He was looking at me - but differently this time.

"Logan?" I said loudly over the music, but it was like he couldn't hear me.

Then he leaned towards me - his skin inches from my own. I tried to jerk away but he was holding me too tightly. I couldn't touch him, but he didn't seem to care anymore.

A hand appeared on his shoulder and before he managed to touch me he'd been torn off me. Erik had reappeared - and he seemed to have deserted the girl he was dancing with, because I could hear her cooing at him to dance again. But all I really saw was the look on his face. Damn, he was angry again.

"Logan," he snapped loudly enough so that some people on the dance floor paused to watch what was going on. Logan blinked - his eyes slowly fading back to their original colour.

"What happened?" He asked, sounding dazed. He looked at Erik, and jerk himself out of his grasp. Erik let him go, but he looked like he'd much prefer hurting him. He was looking at me now.

"What are you, stupid?" He growled at me, his eyes scorching.

"Erik," the girl he'd been dancing with, a blonde-haired vampire, whined, "Come dance!"

"Shut up," He said callously to her, but the girl barely seemed put off.

"Erik, calm down," I muttered, feeling more eyes on me, and not liking it. Logan was on my side, trying to back off so he wouldn't lose his temper.

The music slowed... And slowed... And stopped. The lights went up and everything was illuminated. People were quiet, and Erik backed away and stood with the placid blonde, watching forward. He still looked angry though, I thought, worried. Then I realised why everyone had stopped dancing. Christoph was on the main stage - probably making an announcement. There was a polite clatter of applause as he flitted up.

"Firstly, I'd like to thank you all for coming," He said with a gracious smile. "And secondly, there is announcement I'd like everyone to know. You might have already met her tonight, this is Giselle..." Giselle walked gracefully onto the platform with him, and I realised they were holding hands. "My new girlfriend I guess you could say - despite the old age," he said with a grin. "And she's going to be living here in the castle with us from now on..." Giselle beamed, and I wondered why I hadn't guessed it before.

"Thirdly..." He went on, "All of you, enjoy yourselves."

And the music went back on with blasting clarity. The man sure knew how to make an announcement. But I never got the chance to start dancing again, because Erik had grabbed me painfully tightly by the shoulder and pulled me after him - off the dance floor.

"Dancing with the Grim Reaper! It's like you want to get yourself killed," He'd dragged me outside, through a pair of double glass door onto what I assumed was the porch overlooking the darkened backyard.

He was currently glaring holes into my head, and I glared straight back of him, not even caring if he wanted to rip my throat out, I was so angry. I was sick of getting treated like a stupid child, getting locked out of sight for days, sick of the way he never called me by my name, sick of people comparing me to this stupid Victoria girl - and him hating me for it. It wasn't like it was my fault I looked like her. I wanted to go home most of all.

"Why do you care anyway?" I was almost shouting, luckily the music was loud enough in the hall that no one would hear us. I stomped away from him, sitting on the stone wall, glaring at the darkened sky.

I heard his footsteps behind me.

"I wish I knew," he muttered under his breath.

"Well, if you care so much about my safety," I hissed venomously over my shoulder, "Take me home."

"Impossible." I could practically hear him sneering at me. "Maybe if you weren't always looking for trouble, _human_-"

"My. Name. Is. Lilly!" I stood up and whipped around so our faces were inches apart, so I noticed the surprise on his face before he had the chance to mask it. "Everyone else uses it but you, so what's your problem with it? I'm sorry that I look like someone you knew - I can't help it. Did you hate her as well? Victoria? Is that why you never use my name?"

I knew I'd hit a sore spot there because his face darkened for a moment. _Good._ I wanted to hit him, to lash out at last, with my rage for from being torn away from everything I had known and loved - my family, my friends, my home - he'd taken all of it, and I'd never get it back. I'd never felt so angry, I could feel tears of rage building behind my eyes, but I was too stubborn to let them fall in front of him.

What made worse was that I could only look at him, the perfect planes of his face, the glint of fangs protruding over his lower lip. I could feel his cold breath on my skin, and his eyes heating my whole face with their intensity, transfixed. I could smell his scent - a nice scent - vampire scent... We both seemed paralysed by each other. A sure warning we were too close.

I stepped back quickly - forgetting about the low wall behind me, and promptly tripped.

Why was it that when I tried to be tough I was always humiliated? Oh well, at least Erik hadn't tried to pick me up this time. He stood over me, smirking as I pulled myself to my feet. I wasn't sure why my face was more flushed - him, or falling. Probably both.

"You're lucky you didn't cut yourself, _human_," he drawled at me lazily.

_human_. The word echoed in my head. I'd had enough. _Fuck this_.

Suppressing a scream of frustration I took off the stupid heels that had been slowing me down all night, and threw them at him as hard as I could. He caught them both instantly, of course, but I never saw it because I'd already turned around, back into the castle. I didn't know where I was going, I mused, as I stalked out of the party hall, past the enquiring looks, but I supposed I didn't really care either.

I'd had enough, I didn't care. If I was lucky maybe I'd meet someone who'd finish me off before I starved to death.

* * *


	8. o8

**A/N: Yay :D I managed to get the inspiration to start writing this again. And even though my prelims are in like a week... :| (eep) I think I've done pretty well. This chapter's a little more morbid than the rest so far, but y'know, it _is_ horror after all. Enjoy. :)**

**o8; a masked killer with very pointy teeth. oh dear.**

Still fuming I stomped my way up the stairs in my bare feet - not even registering the cold rough stone beneath me. The party dress was pretty but insignificant and flimsy, just like I felt at the moment. The tears I'd held back before had poured out and sliced down my face, taking my elaborate eyeliner with them. I never wanted to see another stupid vampire in my life.

I wanted to go home. My family. I missed them so much I could feel it like a physical pain, ringing in my head and aching in my chest - just because of the knowledge that I would never see them again. I even missed the bad things about them - my mother's pushiness, my father's stubbornness... I wondered what they were doing, were they searching for me? Probably. Would they ever find me? Highly unlikely.

I didn't even know where I was.

I just kept walking, letting the sound of my sobs echo through the empty rooms like a mourning ghost. Letting my vision blur so I didn't have to see the hopelessness around me.

It was hours later that I started to worry about my situation. After I'd ran out of tears to cry, and the self-pity had started to fade, I realised that I was essentially doomed. I was lost in a gigantic castle. I remembered the fate of Diana, only a few days ago, and I shivered. How long would I wander before I dropped?

Still, I didn't regret leaving the party. Anything was better than staying there, I was sure.

Now I didn't have a clue where I was though, and it was pretty safe to say I wouldn't get out of this place without some sort of miracle. Or disaster, depending how you looked at it. And I was cold. This castle was big, but it wasn't exactly warm and cosy.

I also realised I was exhausted. Lack of sleep, and then a night of dancing and shouting at people... It wasn't good. But I kept walking.

The rooms and corridors were dimly light and creaky, and every time I heard a noise I jumped. A couple times I'd sworn I'd heard more sinister noises than just the wind whistling through the corridors, and I couldn't bring myself to stop moving, just in case something dangerous finally caught up with me. I was running on adrenaline and fear, humming tunes under my breath to try and keep myself sane for as long as I could. If I was lucky it would soon get lighter with daytime. At least I hoped.

That's when I saw it. Or at least I thought I did.

I had been walking through a chillingly empty room that looked like a ballroom - cobwebs thick on the chandelier and old-style grand piano. The portraits that lined this particular room were all different from the ones I'd seen before... You couldn't see their eyes - each one of them, man, woman and child wore gaudy jewelled masks, like the kind that people wore at masquerade balls in old times. There was something creepy about it, the vivid colours and their bloodless white faces... They looked dead under those masks. I started moving faster.

Shivers ran up my spine. I could hear the floorboards creaking. I was sure it wasn't just my own feet, which were now caked in grime and dust. Then I heard a strange noise. Like laughter but sharper and angry.

I didn't even pause to look behind me. I just ran.

I could feel it following me, it's light feet springing off the floor with predator strength. I could hear it's panting, like dog, but not. It was human, sort of... I remembered Zoe telling me about the monsters in this castle, the first time I met. Of course I would meet one eventually...

I turned sharply, hoping to evade it - but my bare foot caught a ragged nail hanging loose out of a floorboard. I felt it claw the flesh on my foot, tears welling in my eyes because it stung. And all it took was a moment of distraction.

Something heavy pounced on me, human fingernails clawed into my back and I was flung violently to the ground, so quickly I couldn't even grasp it until moments later when I was staring into the floorboards and writhing in pain. I heard another mangled cry from the thing on top of me as is savaged the bare skin on my back with it's nails. It sounded so human it was painful to listen to, because I knew it wasn't human. It was cold and hard, like a reanimated corpse.

The pain was blinding me, and the weight on my chest making it impossible to breathe. I was sure at least one of my ribs had cracked because there was sharp stabbing in my chest. I struggled but I couldn't get free, the oxygen deprivation making muscles ache and my vision blur.

Then the creature leapt off me suddenly, and I gasped for air, quickly rolling over before it could hurt me again. My eyes widened and I saw it.

Just like the pictures in the room before, it's skin was grey and lifeless. It would have been a man if not for it's teeth, which reminded me of a tiger's - long, like daggers hanging over his jaw, dripping with glistening grey slime from it's mouth. It was horrible - but it wasn't the teeth that scared me most - it was the vivacious red mask stuck it face, rubies and diamond sparkling malevolently. _The mask was controlling it._

Then I screamed.

_Bad move, Lilly_. It shrieked back at me, outraged, and with it's long grey teeth, lunged for me.

I tried to scrabble to my feet and run, but it was much too late - I gasped when I felt warm blood seeping through a gash in my dress. A moment later I realised the blood was mine. Searing pain ripped through me again, this time in my shoulder. It was biting me. I stared up to it's face, my own face an unmovable stone mask of shock, and the red mask gleamed. _red, red..._ It wanted me to me to bleed to death didn't it? Then what?

The masked man stood over me, his mouth stretched unnaturally upwards over his teeth in a grin. More masked people appeared... A woman and a young child. Their masks were red too. A whole family of masked carnivores.

And they wanted me to join their family.

"No, no no no..." I panted, digging my specially manicured nails into the wood floor until the snapped. They were going to take me with them. I was going to become like that. Despite the paralysing pain - ignoring the blood still flowing freely from the wounds on my back I tried to pull myself up still. I forced my rubbery legs to work, to just _stand up_.

If I was going to die, then I would die clinging to life as long as I could, I thought bitterly.

I heard the masked corpses barking at me with rotted vocal chords as I dragged myself to my knees with superhuman effort. They thought I was done, clearly, or they wouldn't be laughing so openly. I blinked, looking up them, their red mask like beacons of hate, forcing me to _focus_, ignore the agony, deal with it.

I was unsteady, but I reached my feet. That was then the points of red starting closing in on me. I couldn't run, it was hopeless. So I recklessly staggered towards them, grabbing the first mask that came in contact with me. It was the woman's.

I dug into it hard, and she screamed, like nails scraping down a chalkboard. That only enticed me to work faster. The mask started fighting back, burning my hands and heating up like a hot coal. I refused to let go, closing my eyes tight and gritting my teeth as I smelt my hands blistering. It was excruciating. She grabbed my hair, yanking hard - but was too late, the mask was reluctantly peeling away from her... Her hands were going limp at her sides...

Suddenly I was thrown to the ground again, just as viciously as before. The child had grabbed me, bitten at my legs and wrenched me down - but I grinned deliriously. The mask was in my hands - inanimate and harmless. The corpse who had been wearing it crashing to the floor in a heap, spared no sympathy by her twisted family. They would probably make me her replacement, I thought, but I didn't care. I was just glad I'd managed something...

Everything hurt. As I drifted in and out of reality, laughing stupidly, I realised that they weren't standing around me anymore. They were taking me somewhere. _Carrying me back to the ballroom?_ Probably. I didn't really care anymore.

There was so much pain. And I felt colder than ever. Even my bones seemed to be frozen on the inside... If this was what dying felt like then I'd definitely been lied to - I thought it was supposed to be peaceful and quiet?

No, if this was what death was really like, I wanted it over with as fast as possible.

I shut my eyes, expecting everything to go black.

I could still the faint noises of my killers shuffling around me as I bled to death on the smooth cold ballroom floor...

"Lilly!"

I knew that voice, I remembered with a faint smile. But who was it? What were they doing here? Silly, silly, they were too late a long time ago. Or maybe I was just hallucinating... I _did_ like that voice, didn't I? I was grinning now. Maybe death got better?

"Open your eyes dammit!"

That was kind of funny, clearly the voice hadn't noticed that I was dying. He sounded angry. A loud crash rang in my ears, making me think of those masked people again - only this time they were being torn to pieces, the masks taken off them and being burned to ashes. That would be nice, I thought shivering. I wouldn't have wanted my dead body stalking around this place anyway...

The clarity of the pain was increasing again - what was happening to me? I couldn't tell if I was waking up or actually dying. But I didn't like it. It would have been so much easier just to let go and fade away.

"_Stay awake_," The voice didn't sound angry anymore. It sounded sad. Had I ever heard this voice sad before? Probably not, and I didn't like it, because it made me feel bad too. I had to wake up, I didn't want to hurt them. "Lilly."

He used my name, I thought with a smile.

I forced myself to keep breathing, in and out, in and out. I barely felt the pair of warm arms wrapping around me, taking me away.

*******

The first thing I noticed was the fuzzy dryness on my tongue, like I'd been walking the desert for days without water. I didn't think I'd be able to speak at all, but I was surprised when the strange croaking noise lifted off my lips, burning my throat. It wasn't nice. Then I felt the pain, and I wished I hadn't woken up at all.

Aching in my shoulder and stomach. I only vaguely remembered the long dagger-like teeth stabbing me mercilessly. And the masks, those ruby red masks...

My hands automatically jerked to my face - getting tangled up in sheets, bed sheets. I was lying down, I was in a bed. More importantly, I was _warm_. Never mind the pain, I was in heaven.

What happened anyway? I went through a checklist of what I could remember. The party. The harpies. Celeste. Dancing with Logan; the grim reaper. His eyes went all black, but he never touched me. Erik was being a bastard again. I got lost in the castle and then got attacked by a bunch of masked corpses. Idiotic of me, I guess you could have said. I nearly died, I should be wandering the castle as a zombie right now. So how come I was lying here in an unknown bed, in an unknown room, suffering, instead of cold and dead?

I sighed and gave up trying to think about it, because it was making my head hurt. I wanted to go back to sleep, but every time I shut my eyes I found myself thinking of haunting images; blood smearing the floor of the ballroom, the nightmares of my crying nephew in the snowy forest. I was exhausted and wired at the same time.

I could move all my fingers and toes, I decided that was a plus. As I counted the swirls on the ceiling I moved each one of them in succession.

What really mystified me was how I hadn't simply died from loss of blood. I doubted vampires could give blood transfusions anyhow...

"Ah, you're awake."

I shook as though electrified at the sound of the crisp voice, how long had Alexei been standing there? He smiled dryly at me from his position next to my bed - he looked as regal as ever, only reminding me of how disgusting I must have seemed. It might have just been my imagination, but he seemed annoyed - probably disappointed because I hadn't died, I bet. Feeling too weak to bother giving him a dirty look I just focused on using my energy to find out what had happened.

"How come I'm alive?" I asked, my voice sounding raspy at best.

"I've been asking the same question for days, darling," He said with a steely look in his deep brown eyes that kept me from questioning him. "Allegedly you're quite the fighter, according to Christoph. When Erik brought you to him he thought you'd died, your pulse was so faint."

_"Stay awake."_

The voice from my disjointed dreams rang inside my head like bells. That had been real? Even more unbelievable, that had been Erik. How did I not recognise it? I stared at Alexei in disbelief. He looked back at me sardonically.

"_Erik_ found me?" I said, forcing myself to sit up, wincing at the pain it caused in my side.

He said nothing, smiling mockingly at me. He probably thought I was an idiot.

"Erik hates me!" I finally exclaimed, confused and annoyed. "Because he hated that Victoria girl - it's obvious. Why would he even bother to come looking for me?"

"You have obviously been very misinformed," Alexei rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "Or maybe you're just dense. I suppose you'd have to be to go wandering the hallways like that."

Wait, Erik didn't hate me? What _was_ his problem with me then? I felt more frustrated that ever now, back to my old idea - he just had extreme bipolar disease.

"To think I could be out hunting, humans I'm _allowed_ to kill, right now if it wasn't for you. Christoph has refused to let anyone leave your side just in case you woke up."

"And you volunteered?" I spluttered.

"Christoph made me." He sneered back. "He was actually worried I'd try and kill you... Maybe I will?"

He took a menacing step forward and smirked at my heart's reaction, it sped up of it's own accord, fear.

"You wouldn't," I said stonily.

"You're right," he admitted, "But it's good to know you fear me..." He paused, as if wondering whether to tell me, "I can read your mind after all."

I should've known that Christoph's other son would have powers, but that didn't make me any less annoyed about it. All my secrets, all my memories laid on show for him to see... _Ugh_.

"Yes, I know - it must be irritating. It's strange how Christoph's powers have no effect on you, because they need to touch your blood to take effect... Whereas mine do, because I only have to touch your mind," he laughed cruelly, but moved on regardless of my feelings, "Your wounds should have at least halfway healed by now, I presume," he answered the question forming in my head, "Vampires, my dear. We know enough about magic to efficiently heal even our own prey. True but rather pointless, if you ask me..."

He was right too, I realised as I reached for the scars that should have been all over me. My legs seemed free of any marks, my shoulder and my side were still a bit raw to touch, but skin had already healed over. It should have been impossible...

"I'll go inform Christoph that you're alive," Alexei nearly spat at me. "Try not to wander off while I'm away."

This time I did glare at him, as acidly as I could.

* * *


	9. o9

**o9; conflicted? hell yes.**

I was in the forest again. I could hear him.

"Lilly! Lilly, help!"

A pair of pleading blue eyes were gazing into mine desperately - the eyes of my nephew. He huddled in the snow helplessly, crying out for me, but I couldn't reach him. He needed me, he was lost in the forest, freezing, lonely... And I couldn't touch him. My ghostly fingers slipped through his pallid skin when I reached out to take his hand. It was useless I knew, in this dream form of myself.

I had to find him outside of my dreams, my dream-self knew, but I resisted. I couldn't wake up, I couldn't get out of this nightmare.

Jack looked up at me, terrified. The sun was setting, it was getting dark. I could hear the snap of movement and growls of carnivores, watching him, ready to spring the moment I disappeared. There wasn't much time left, I knew.

"Lilly, please!" His voice was begging me now.

Then my eyes opened.

A pair of curious emerald eyes stared down at my face. It took my brain a moment to fully wake up and realise that this person was Erik, and then that I had no idea how to respond. Technically, he had saved my life, more than once, depending on how you looked at it. On the other hand, he was more difficult to predict than... Than the most unpredictable thing ever, I thought to myself, glad Erik wasn't the one who could read minds.

"You twitch in your sleep," He said calmly with a slight smile on his lips. For a moment, he didn't even seem mean or arrogant, and it looked nice on him.

I decided not to mention that I'd been having a nightmare - I didn't even think about it, in case he could hear me somehow. But I already knew that I had to do something. I just didn't know what.

"I thought that Christoph was coming?" I said, sitting up - this time with considerably less stabbing pain. Good.

"Yes, he did see you," Erik shrugged, "But the medicine you were given tends to cause you to sleep like you're in a coma... He's glad that his greatest weapon is still breathing though." He said the last sentence in a way that made me know he was angry about it, his face darkening. I didn't realise it, but I shrank away. I wasn't afraid of Erik, unless he was angry. Then he terrified me.

"What are you doing here then?" I asked, staring him down. The tension must have shown in my voice because his shoulders eased up slightly and when he looked back at me the darkness was gone.

"I..." He paused for a moment, his face flawless but unreadable, then smiled at me wryly. "I suppose I felt someone should keep an eye on you - every time you leave your room there's a disaster."

I opened my mouth to retaliate, then realised he was right, and shut it again, contenting myself with a scowl.

"Oh yeah," he grinned, "I haven't heard a thank you yet. I believe I saved you twice, actually, so that's two "thank you's."

"That is _so_ childish," I replied nastily. "I'm currently living in hell, remember? Maybe I wanted to die, and you just kept getting in my way?"

"Oh, you hardly seem suicidal to me," His face darkened again, "Depressed people tend to be _quiet_, don't they?"

I could see this conversation going swiftly into meltdown again, and swallowed hard. Maybe I'd gone a little too far. How I even had the strength for a roaring argument eluded me. But my mouth wouldn't stop...

"Why do you even care?" I yelled in frustration, "What's the point? I might have magic powers or whatever, but that doesn't mean I'm special! I mean, there's nothing to stop me from just losing it and jumping out a window is there? There's no point in saving me, I know that my luck'll run out eventually, I'm not stupid."

The snarl growing on his lips was clear. I should have stopped, but I hadn't. And I paid for it.

"Don't be such a bitch, Lilly," He snapped, picking me up and locking his arms around me so I couldn't move at all. Luckily my wounds were all but vanished or I'd have been screaming in pain just at the sudden movement. Erik didn't seem to care, either that or he must of known I was healed by now. Then my heart leapt into my throat as he dived, carrying me with him, out of the wide, open window.

We were plummeting to the ground, but he didn't seem to care. He pinned me against his cool chest so I couldn't even struggle, just stare at his devious grin in horror. Of course, _he_ wouldn't be killed when he hit the ground.

"What are you doing?! Are you crazy?!" I screeched over the rush of air all around us. The ground was inches closer with each millisecond. His green eyes blazed supernaturally.

"I'll stop as soon as you take back what you just said," He yelled back, trying to hold back a laugh. "Promise you won't throw yourself out a window!"

The Earth was second was seconds away, and Erik wasn't showing any signs that he would stop falling. He was going to kill us... well, just me.

"Fine! I promise!" I squeaked, shutting my eyes on impending doom, burying my face against him. "I won't - just start flying, you idiot!"

I felt the vibrations of his laughter through his chest, and then his jet black wings unfolded seamlessly, pulling in an effortless, but dangerously sharp nosedive as we rocketed to the ground. My stomach flipped when I realised we had stopped falling - he glided innocently through the chilled air, looking down at me, amused at how all the colour had drained from my face.

I didn't say anything, grating my teeth together silently. And was infuriated by how I couldn't look away from him. Why did his face have to be so mesmerising? _As though it wasn't enough to be rich, immortal and in love with yourself._

His wings swept us upward, away from the room I'd been in before, and in seconds he had soared onto the roof, reaching a slated part that was free of any snow. He balanced on it perfectly, but I took one look down and balked at the height, skittering back from the edge. I heard him laughing behind me.

"We're so... high up," I breathed, staring in despair at the swirling white abyss below me. The vertigo making me want to hurl. I heard him laughing and gave him a scathing look over my shoulder.

"You're afraid of heights?"

"No shit," I muttered under my breath.

"You get used to it," He shrugged evenly, his face back in "irritating smirk" mode.

"Well I don't plan on it," I retorted, "Take me down."

"Relax," He sighed, "It's hardly like I'd let you fall." One of his smooth, strong hands were held out for me to take.

I hesitated, I couldn't help it. I looked at him in bare confusion, and his eyes seemed to glitter mysteriously at me. I could have imagined it - I hoped I had - but I'm sure I felt butterflies for a second there. I ignored it, squashed the feeling back down. Something seemed to overpower the wariness of his lethal species anyway, and I took his hand. It was oddly cold. He was watching me in a way that reminded me of a man trying to coax a bird from eating from his hand, carefully, patiently.

"How come sometimes you're freezing," I said, trying to ignore the steep drop behind me and look ahead, "And sometimes not? It's weird."

Erik tugged me up onto the flatter part of the roof as though I weighed nothing at all, as usual, considering whether it was worth answering my question or not. He seemed to decide yes.

"It's sort of like a measure of how hungry a vampire is," His intense eyes swept my face. He was expected me to be shocked I think, he was probably disappointed by my blank face. "The longer ago a vampire has drank human blood the colder their skin."

"Oh, okay... I guess that makes sense."

I remembered the icy touch of his skin so he must not have eaten, I ignored the details of that gruesomeness, suppressing shivers, in a while. That could hardly be good. Especially with such a convenient snack standing right next to him.

I blurrily remembered his skin being warm when he'd carried me away from those things in the ballroom. I wondered if he'd eaten since then - if he'd killed someone, I thought brutally, trying to imagine him sucking someone bone dry, his eyes full of hate. It wasn't difficult to imagine, I seen him angry before.

I risked a glance.

His face was turned out towards the sky, his vibrant eyes focused on something in the distance that my human eyes weren't efficient enough to see. His skin seemed to glow slightly in the pale winter sunlight, hitting the form of his face in all the perfect places to emphasize his unblemished good looks, his toned body. But there was something inhuman about the stillness he held, the glow of light on his skin, or the steely taught bands of muscle in his arms. He was every girl's fantasy and nightmare rolled into one.

Honestly, I didn't know if I wanted to be near him or run away.

"Is drinking blood really like a heroin addiction?" I asked suddenly, remembering Felix mention it at the party. "I heard that Kay only drinks animal blood, and doesn't need human blood at all."

He turned back to me, staring, surprised. Then his mouth curled into a crooked half-smile at my question. But his eyes were cold and hard.

"Human blood is almost irresistible to a vampire, like heroin but think stronger," he said, his face suddenly turning tortured. "Kay has a lot of self-control... Plus she wants to be human, which I cannot understand at all. She can only drink animal blood because she's never tasted human blood. If she did, then I'm sure that she wouldn't be able to resist."

"You couldn't just stop?"

"If I could then maybe I would enjoy being immortal," He laughed, but it was bitter.

"You never struck me as the type who cared about humans," I replied coolly, "Or at least had a conscience."

"I guess not," He smiled mysteriously, "But there's a lot you don't know, Lilly. You're sixteen. I'm one hundred and sixty three, and that's only my years as a vampire. That's _young_ for a vampire. You're hardly a child compared to us."

I realised my mouth was hanging open again. It still didn't make sense that someone so old could remain so young forever. Erik hardly looked a day over twenty-one.

"How old do vampires get?" I wondered, my eyes wide.

"Well, Christoph's the oldest one is existence - and he's the best part of two-thousand," Erik shrugged, "But he's only lived so long because he's _strong_, and has strong people who do his bidding. Vampires fight too much be truly immortal."

I blinked. _Two thousand._ It was unbelievable.

"But Christoph's old and weakening now," Erik continued, "And he knows it. That's why he created me and Alexei. A vampire cannot disobey the order of a vampire that created it, it's like an automatic response to carry out the order. He wanted Alexei because Alexei was psychic even before he was turned. Me... Well, it's sort of obvious." He ruffled his shiny feathers a little for an example. "He wants one of us to take over when he dies. He knows it's coming."

Now I fully understood why Alexei hated Erik so much. He wanted the castle, the power, the army of the undead, or whatever it was Christoph held over all the other vampires. Erik didn't seem interested though. He frowned at me slightly.

"And you don't want to be king, or whatever?" I lifted an eyebrow.

He didn't answer, just looked morosely out at the sunset. I was pretty sure that was a "no". The sun was pretty, but he'd probably seen it enough times to be more than sick of it.

"Wow, I miss when things were simple," I suddenly felt like laughing hysterically. It was a strange, buoyant feeling like a bubble in my chest. I couldn't help but let a slight giggle escape my lips. I looked down at the ground below me and the vertigo came again.

"You're a very strange human," Erik gave me a dry smile. "Or maybe it's just the drugs they've been giving you."

"You're not exactly Mr. Blue Skies yourself," I laughed, then straightened out. "Now seriously, take me down from here before I puke."

"I've seen you looking more gross than that," he smirked, stepping calmly off the side of the roof, floating in the air beside me. "Actually, it would probably be kind of entertaining. Maybe I'll just leave you here for a little while... You need to learn a little respect anyway, human."

"No," I said slowly, eyes widening. His malicious grin grew slightly wider, fangs on full show. "You wouldn't. You're not allowed. Christoph told you not to-"

"He told me not to kill you, Lilly," laughed Erik, his eyes almost golden in the light from the sunset. "He didn't say that I couldn't freak you out a bit." And he floated down over the edge, out of my sight. I groaned. He was not going to make me sit out here all night. Was he? I was wearing thin silk panamas, not a fur coat. I had no shoes on. Hey, who had changed my clothes anyway?

"You bastard! Forget the stupid promise - I will jump!" I shrieked over the edge at him, because I'm sure he was still there. I heard him laugh. Oh, I was going to kill him. Who cared if he had superpowers? I had raw fury. I didn't jump though. "_Stinking vampire_."

So much for friends, I thought with scorn. I had almost had a near civil conversation with him too. That's what you get when you trust a stupid leech.

"Say sorry," I heard a velvety smooth, familiar and gloating voice in my ear and I nearly jumped and slid down into a oblivion, "And maybe I'll consider giving you a hand." He stood next to me, perfectly composed compared to my windswept hair and red-face from shouting.

"Sneaky bastard," I growled at him, holding tight to the tiles underneath me.

"Apologise," He insisted, unable to suppress his smirk, his voice annoyingly appealing.

"Sorry," I spat, because I knew he was my only way down.

"Better," he sighed, relenting and lifting me up, his cold arms making me shiver even though the material, "But couldn't you be a little more grateful?" It was weird to think how easily he could have killed me, dropped me to my death, or simply sucked the life out of my body. I was really more grateful he hadn't done that.


	10. 1o

**So let me explain the huuuuge gap in updating. My computer got a virus and this chapter the four one after it were all deleted. D: So I thought I'd totally lost my patience with it. However the enthusiasm had returned, so I've rewrote some of the stuff that got killed by evil virus people. :) Sorry about the wait.**

**If this chapter's a little short, it's because I didn't really feel I had a lot to cover in it, but bear with me, this is going somewhere. :)**

**1o; following your dreams isn't always the greatest advice.**

I opened my eyes because I could hear it again. The forest was dense and the light was dimming. I didn't know how I'd gotten here, but knew exactly why I was here, and where I had to go.

"Lilly! Lilly, help!" He cried out to me again, and I felt the raw ache of pain in my chest as I looked for him out here alone. Helpless. I couldn't leave him, he wouldn't be able to hold off anything thing in this forest. I had to find him. I had to...

I had broke out into a full sprint now, picking my way over the tangles of roots on the forest floor, more like I was gliding than really running. This was a dream I knew, but I felt my face, and I had a feeling it would also be tear-streaked when I woke up too. I could smell the mustiness of the forest, see each dimming hue of green... It was so vivid, it might as well have been real. It could be real.

And if it is real...

The snow fell softly about as I emerged from the forest pathway into the spongy clearing. Jack would be sitting at the top off that cliff, and I needed to get to him. I had to get him out of here, before... Before what? Something terrible was about too happen. I was going to be to late.

In sheer desperation I scrabbled at the cliff face. I could hear my tortured breathing in my chest, my heart pounding. Jack was so close. A remnant of my past that wasn't completely fucked up was just inches away, and soon he'd be gone.

"Lilly, please," I could hear his voice, young and fragile, trembling. "You've got to hurry! You got to save me, before _they_ come..."

Who were they, I wanted to know. They weren't going to take him away.

I found him, huddled in the frost, his dark hair plastered to his white face, and tear on his cheeks. Behind him the sun was setting, and this made Jack's eyes go wide in terror.

"They come out at night, Lilly," he whimpered, "They're going to take me. You need to come get me, NOW."

I was struck by how blue his eyes were, how hauntingly familiar... My nephew had brown eyes, didn't he? Never mind, he needed my help.

"It's okay, Jack," I murmured, "I'm here okay? And I'll get us home, I promise. I-"

The sky went dark, and the forest dimmed. I heard the sounds of cracking branches, of large deadly footsteps. Jack grabbed my arm, looking at my eyes in horror. He needed me... He had waited too long already. I looked back into the forests and saw dark shapes moving, claws reaching for him.

"No!" I heard myself yell.

"Lilly," Jack said, his voice crystal clear. "You need to help me. They're coming tonight Lilly. Find me. Just find me, please."

And then I woke up.

Immediately, I stood out of my bed, moving so fast that it made my head spin. I was still recovering from my ordeal, but I hadn't been prepared for this. There was only one way to describe these dreams, and thay were too real not to be. The way he'd looked at me. I was wondering, what if Jack was out there. What if he really does need me? My chest ached again.

Damn vampires. Who was to say they hadn't taken him too? It was more than likely. How else could this be happening to me? Jack needed my help. I couldn't ignore it. Even if he wasn't there... I could see his eyes in my mind, and I had to know the truth. If he was there, he was all I had. If he wasn't... What did I have to lose?

I moved towards the window staring out. The sun was out, and the snow was falling a little too thickly to be considered atmospheric and beautiful. I bit my lip. This wasn't going to be easy. And that was just my first worry. The forest was dark and dangerous as this castle, maybe more. But even as I looked at it I could feel it calling out to me.

I remembered Erik telling me yesterday about the trouble I always found myself in. And if he caught me running like this... I didn't even want to imagine the look on his face. Or Christoph's. No, don't think about that...

But if someone had taken Jack, then I had to get out of here. I knew where to go, I was pretty sure. Straight to that clearing. _It had to exist._

It was at this moment that Zoe walked in, her purple hair bouncing cheerfully. She took one look at me, chalk white, and her face changed abruptly.

"Lilly," she said.

"I need to go," I said, fiercely. "You can't tell anyone, please don't tell anyone. I... Someone needs my help."

"Excuse me, what?" She stared at in confusion. She looked at me like I was crazy. "Lilly, what are you talking about? Are you okay?"

"The forest," I said, my mouth set. "I need to go there. I can't tell you why, but if I don't get out there now, then, my, my..." I trailed off, if I said anymore, I'd sound even more unhinged than I felt right now. "I'll tell the vampires it's not your fault, but I need to get out of here now. It's important."

"What?"

"The forest," I muttered, "And I know I sound crazy but..." More tears were welling up and I wiped them off with my sleeve.

"Lilly," Zoe grabbed me hard by the shoulder. "Look outside. You can't go out into that." It was the makings of a blizzard. But that didn't concern me. I was only worried that the sun would set, and those things would take him away.

"I have to," I said through my teeth.

Zoe saw the determination on my face and backed away. She looked angry. The first time I'd seen her lose her temper for real.

"I'll tell them the minute you walk out that door, and they'll come and get you."

"I don't care," I sighed. "I promise, if this works out the way I think -no, I know- that it will, I will explain, and you'll see why I did it. But now, you wouldn't understand, and I need to go now. Get it? Now. Help me get out of here, please. I can't find the exit alone."

"Lilly, this is crazy," Lilly said coldly. "I'm on thin ice right now - I just can't okay? You're sick... And Erik will personally rip my guts out - he hasn't forgiven me for last time."

"_Please_. You said you owed me. I'll tell him that it's not your fault."

"Fine." Her mouth twisted and she stared at me anxiously. "This is insane... Let's go." Her hand clamped like a vice around my wrist, and I wondered if she was going to hand me in right there. She didn't though. She pulled me after her, muttering to me under her breath as we walked through a foreboding looking corridor. "You're going to get yourself killed. Is that what you want? That's what it seems like."

"It's not about me," I replied, "It's... It's important. I promise not to die." I couldn't keep the pleading voice out of my head the danger and desperation. I couldn't focus on what Zoe said.

She pulled me into a gigantic room full of clothes before she took me to the main doors. Normally I would have been amazed at the thousand of racks and shelves of clothes, clothes and more clothes... But now, I didn't care. Zoe disappeared for a moment, then came back, to throw gigantic, brown coat, twice the size of me, into me arms.

"If you're going out there, wear that," she muttered. "It's werewolf fur, it'll keep you from freezing to death. It's warmer than any kind of normal fur, and lighter too. I swear to God, the minute you leave, I'm going to find Christoph. That necklace you're wearing will tell them exactly where you've gone, Lilly."

She obviously thought I wasn't going to get very far. I remembered the tracking silver pendant and wished I knew a way to take it off, of course, it was unbreakable with my feeble strength. My stomach swooped nervously.

"I'm sorry," I said, avoiding her glare. I hoped that she'd forgive me for this. She turned out of the room indicating for me follow.

What was I going to do after I found him? I didn't know, but I'd think of something. I'd get a way out of this nightmare.

Zoe lead me through more winding corridors, not saying a word. I could barely concentrate on what was going on, I was so paranoid that at any moment a vampire would step out from behind a door, and drag me screaming, back to my room.

In a few minutes we had made it to the front doors. Strong, gigantic, wooden doors. The old fashioned bolt creaked as we heaved it open and I shivered, even after I threw on the fur. I couldn't see what was so special about them myself. Personally, I hated fur. Then I was staring out at the snowy path down the forest, looking shady and ominous ahead of me. I swallowed nervously.

"Go ahead then," smirked Zoe, thinking I was about to freak out and give up. Of course, she didn't know what was driving me.

"Sorry," I muttered, stepping out, to her shock. To my surprise, the falling snow and cutting wind didn't faze me. I took off across the gardens, leaving her standing open-mouthed behind me.

I sighed, my heart pounding. No vampire had stopped me yet.

_Don't worry, I'm coming_, I thought as I entered the gloom and silence.


	11. 11

**11; werewolves. like big hairy vampires that smell funny.**

Strangely, as I moved through the thick undergrowth, the branches seemed to pull out of my way. When I passed through I moved with them, moving faster than I could have imagined possible, with my clumsy feet. I thought it had something to do with the fur. The branches didn't seem to mind scratching my face or pulling my hair - but against the fur they smoothly slid past.

Finally, I found somewhere I could walk without getting scraped. I chewed my lip as I walked, hurrying as fast as I could, tripping multiple times. This was nothing like the smooth movement of my dreams, and the smell was worse here. Every so often I'd here noises, sometimes harmless bird calls, other times it was something more sinister, ripping roars and screams. I wanted to turn around, but every time this thought crossed my mind, the image of my cowering nephew came into my head, and I knew I couldn't stop until I knew the truth.

If he needed me, I had no choice. The darker the sky got the less time I had. I thought I was lost more than once, but then I'd notice something from my dream, and I'd work out where I was going.

My other worry, I had been trying to push out of my mind too - but I remembered the rage of the vampires all too easily, and my face went pale at the thought of returning to them. If I found Jack out here, I couldn't go back to the castle, could I? They'd kill me. Or Jack. And that would be worse. Still, they hadn't found me yet, that was hopeful.

I walked for long enough for my feet to ache and my muscles to strain until it felt like my legs had turned to useless rubber. The only living creatures I'd seen in this forest yet had been insects. Lots of them. But I was thankful that had been all so far. I must have been luckier than I thought not to meet something dangerous by now.

It had felt like ages had gone by when I emerged into the clearing. The sun was just about to go down. Why hadn't I moved faster? Jack was so close!

My boots crunched through the snow as I stepped out under the light. If I hadn't been so worried I would have maybe liked this place. I strained my ears, listening hard. I heard nothing. My heart thudded nervously. I could have been wrong could I? What if he was already gone? No, that couldn't happen...

"Jack?" I called hesitantly as I tramped towards the cliff edge. How the hell was I going to climb that?

There was no answer but a haunting silence. I felt shivers rack my spine. I had to see for myself.

"Jack!" I looked for a path up to the top, and luckily I saw one, a steep rocky climb. Shuddering and sick, I staggered towards it, banishing bad thoughts. He was here, he had to be, he just hadn't heard me yet. "Jack, it's Lilly! I'm coming, okay?"

What would I do next? I had no idea. I just had to see him for myself.

I thought I heard something as I climbed, the rocks cutting my hands. But was it Jack or just the wind? I was so glad that Zoe had given me the wolf fur, but Jack must be freezing to death.

I called out his name again when I made it to the top of the cliff. Nothing. I saw approached the spot that I'd seen in my dreams - all here, like this was meant to happen. I knew my dreams hadn't lied to me. But...

I looked down at the empty space where nephew should be, and it was empty, except for the fallen snow. Something had happened.

It felt like something cracked inside me. I fell down, unable to move my wasted muscles any further. _He wasn't here._ Why had I even bothered? I was alone out here, why couldn't I understand that? Now I was well and truly dead. I looked at the sky. It was dark. The moon and stars had come out in force. Pulling my knees to my chest, I let my eyelids droop slowly. Had I been fooled? Or... Was it, something else?

I was too tired to care anymore.

There was a loud crack, and I opened my eyes with a start. Large shadows were approaching from through the trees. There weren't human, they were much to big to be human, and they were long and lanky, with pointed ears, long fur and claws... Was I dreaming this? This was unreal.

The large roar burst through the darkness making my head ring. I stared wide-eyed in horror, as they stepped into the moonlight, watching me.

The closest one was a dark jet black, and it's hackles were raised. I shrunk away, whispering desperately under my breath.

"Wait," There was a sharp commanding shout, and I watched, mystified, as one of the creatures, shrunk, and became... Well, human. A severe looking, older man was looking down at me with imperiously dark eyes. There was a distinct wolfish look about him - no doubt, because he was a werewolf, I thought with a shock.

What had I just walked into?

I tried to pull myself up. They looked furious, and they wouldn't wait long for an explanation. Reluctantly, the other two morphed into their human forms; the black one that had lunged for me turned into a small girl, about my age, with black hair and a hard athletic frame, she was glaring at me hatefully. The other one was slightly older but not much - he had dark red hair and brown eyes, with a nervous look on his hard lined face.

What really confused me, I thought sarcastically, smiling to myself, was how they managed to change shape and be wearing clothes in their human form. I forced my body to respond, and I watched them carefully, looking and feeling terrified.

"Elias," the girl said caustically, her eyes never leaving me, "Why stop us? She's a vampire, she positively stinks of it. And haven't you seen that thing wrapped around her. This is an insult to the treaty."

"Calm down, Audrey," muttered the younger male, "Don't want to morph by accident again, do we?"

"Shut up," she snarled, her voice dog-like again.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't understand, what-" I tried to speak, but my voice was quiet and shaky. The old one, their leader, cut through what I was saying with a deep authorative snarl.

"You aren't a vampire, that much is obvious," he said, "No vampire would come here in a state like this. Audrey, she's human."

"Well, she's still in league with the filthy leeches," growled the girl, "You can smell it."

"Yes, which is why I want to know what she's doing here," The older one, Elias, said, his voice suddenly threatening. "The leeches have a treaty that they promised to keep out of our territory, and we want to know why they've sent you." His face darkened, and he came closer to me, reaching out, and grabbed me. I felt my breath constrict as I stared at his remorseless eyes. "And why you're wearing a comrade's skin," He spat roughly.

_Werewolf fur_, I thought, paralysed with fear. I was finished.

He threw me to the ground like I was a rag doll and I gasped for air.

"Explain." He growled, and I felt his foot kicking me hard under the ribs. Pain blossomed in my stomach, and it took a moment for the grey to subside from under my eyelids before I could string together answer.

"II-I didn't know th-that this was," I stumbled up, "Y-your territory. The vampires, they don't, tell me anything. I don't know w-what's happening." I was going to have to lie my way out of this. If I could. The pain was still crippling. "I'm s-sorry, I didn't know. The vampires kidnapped, and I w-was trying to escape. I l-left the castle, they gave me the fur... So I ran as far as I could."

I looked at my feet, feeling their eyes on me.

"And you just happened to end up here?" Elias boomed with laughter. "How unfortunate... The vampires will not want to hear this."

"Let's kill her, Elias. Then we'll give her back," The girl grinned, her teeth super-sharp and white. "That'll show the bloodsuckers not to leave their trash lying around."

My stomach dropped, my heart leapt to my throat. Oh, crap. This wasn't good...

"What do you think, Luke?" Elias said, a smile spreading on his face too. My heart thudded nervously. The girl had already morphed back into her monster form - the jet black giant were-wolf.

"I think..." The boy hesitated. I looked at him desperately, praying that he helped me, not caring if I was practically begging. Something in his face shifted. He looked weak, his face was sheepish. "Maybe we need to speak with the vampires about this, just in case. We don't want another fight, Elias."

The Audrey wolf snarled loudly at him, but Elias ignored her, he was looking tersely at Luke.

"I d-don't know if the vampires will m-mind if you kill me," I muttered, "B-but, they wanted me for something. I don't know, it might have b-been important." I was trying to sound as honest as possible - it was true, after all, but Elias's eyes narrowed.

"Sure that you aren't just trying to save your skin?" He smirked. "I haven't forgotten the fur you wear, human. And it's not swaying me to your side."

"I just think," Luke said, looking at me intently, "That we need to be careful. We can keep her a while, and if the vampires have no complaints, then you can do what you want."

Audrey looked enraged, but Elias nodded slowly. I let out a sigh of relief. I was going to live a little longer.

"In that case," Elias laughed shortly, "You can carry her back, Luke."

"This is total crap," Audrey hissed wolfishly, "Why can't we destroy her. You're so pathetic Luke." Without another word, she'd disappeared with so much as a crack of a twig, into the enormous darkness of the forest.

Elias shrugged, and in a second he had morphed and followed after her.

That left me and Luke. I smiled gratefully at him. His eyes remained cold, but he looked curious.

"That skin you're wearing," he muttered darkly, "That was my mother's. Where did you get it?"

"The vampires," I said breathlessly, quickly pulling it off, suddenly feeling the sting of the winter air on me. "It was in their castle. I never meant to... I never meant for this. If you want it, it's yours. My name's Lilly, and I'm sorry."

He nodded slowly, and stepped forward, taking the heavy fur from my hand. "Thank you," he murmured. "But it won't change Elias's mind. He'll kill you anyway."

"I guess," I whispered hoarsely, swallowing hard. "You have no idea about the bad day that I'm having," I laughed nervously.

"I can imagine," he replied, stony faced. But there was a hint of amusement in his voice. "It's strange that you even managed to get this far out alone. You must have been possessed to keep going like this." He morphed into a dark red werewolf. I shook my head in surprise. He had no idea.

"Don't squirm," he said, carefully wrapping his huge clawed hands around my arms and lifting me up. He put me against his shoulder, and I dug my hands into his fur for dear life. "And whatever you do, keep your head down, and don't let go, because we move _very_ fast."

He wasn't kidding.

My neck clicked back from the force of the rushing air as soon as I could blink. My eyes streamed and my bare skin burnt from the whip of the icy air. While the wolf that I held on to for dear life seemed to melt through the thick forest, I wasn't so lucky. I ducked my head just in time to avoid sharp passing branches from slicing my face or taking an eye out. I could feel the movement of his feet underneath me, jumpy and unpredictable - nothing like the smoothness of vampire travel.

I wanted to hurl when we finally stopped. The world spun, literally.

"You took your time," I heard the scornful tones of Audrey. "Now what are you going to do with her?"

She was standing in front of a house, so covered by green moss and plant that it could have easily been mistaken for forest. It was certainly not as grand as the castle, but it definitely wasn't small by any means.

I felt my feet touch the ground, and it was an effort to stand without swaying.

Human formed Elias approached me, and grabbed me roughly by the wrists, and I was dragged forward. Maybe I was wrong, I thought bitterly; maybe I really was going to get slaughtered here...

"We'll lock her up," Elias growled, "If no one comes for her in a few hours," he pulled my head up by the hair so I could see him furious, dark face. I heard a mewl of pain escape my mouth. "...Then she's ours."


	12. 12

**A/N: I wrote some more :D *happy dance* I know, I know it was a massive wait, I've just been doing other projects. But I promise I'll be more focused soon. I'm taking the biggest exams of my life right now, so it's kind of important I pay attention to them ;) In the summer hopefully I'll have a lot more free time.**

**12; the centuries old grudge match… silly really.**

My eyes struggled open, trying to focus in the dim light. My bones and muscles ached from the cold stone floor. I guess all types of mythical monsters, werewolves, vampires, none of them could ever resist a good dungeon. This one was cramped and smelt badly of mildew. The air was damp and caught in my throat. I shifted, and a wave of pain ran up my spine. Nasty. I had vast dark bruises on my back and arms where the werewolf had grabbed me, slowly changing colours.

I didn't even want to think about what was going to happen now. I didn't know how long I would be here, and for some reason, I was thinking that this actually may be the highlight of my day, night, whatever it was. I mean, even if somehow, the vampires did track me here (my hand went unconsciously to the silver collar still bolted around my neck) they weren't going to be pleased.

I mean, what could I say, that I'd been brainwashed to hand myself over to monsters?

I hoped that Zoe hadn't been blamed for me being an idiot. Of course, the dreams had been shockingly vivid, but surely Jack, my mom and dad, my sisters, were probably all fine. I mean, they probably didn't even believe vampires existed - how amusing, considering they were the bane of my life.

Strangely enough I kept thinking of Erik's face after the incident with the masked dead guys. When I'd told him that I hated this place. He'd been so angry when I told how fragile I really was. He'd probably take this just as badly, I bet. He would _really_ hate me. Or did he hate me anyway? It was too confusing to keep track of his mood swings anymore. I didn't actually miss him did I? Totally crazy...

Wow, back when I was sitting in AP Calculus, bored out of my mind, and thinking life sucked, I really had no idea.

There was a loud creak and a squeal of metal hinges as the door at the top of the stairs opened, bringing with it bright, bright light that scalded my eyes. I blinked, trying to clear my spinning head, wondering who'd come to torture me now...

I vaguely recognised the shape. As I got my vision back I noticed the quiet but intent face, not smiling at me, but not angry either. Luke.

"The vampires are going to come back for you, aren't they?" He said, his voice cutting through the cold air. He was looking at the ruby pendant. "What is that thing?"

"They put it on me when they took me," I said hesitantly, "and told me it tracks me." What did it matter to Luke? "They think I'm special because I'm resistant to their effects, or something... I don't know. They won't come get me here anyway, not if they're banned away from you." My voice sounded dry and cracked, and hatefully weak.

Luke didn't say anything, he just shook his head.

"Fucking vampires," he muttered under his breath.

"You aren't good friends, are you?" I replied dryly, shifting again, painfully, so I could sit up.

"No," He smiled wanly, "Vampires have hunted us for centuries. We're just about the last of our kind. You want to know how many of us there are? Fifty. That's all that's left. Vampires on the other hand, spreading like the plague... That's all they want, power. Especially Christoph and his so-called royalty. All megalomaniacs. Don't let them turn you, you're better off dead."

Luke's face was tortured, and I felt a pang of pity. The vampires had probably destroyed his life, just like mine. He was right I supposed. But then, once you were undead, what else could you really win from life?

"Why are you down here?" I asked, confused, "I thought you hated me."

"They don't hate you," he said, "Just vampires. And they have the right. I'm here because... I don't really know why. I just thought you'd listen, I guess."

"Well, I don't really have a choice," I smiled. "If I had things my way, I wouldn't have been taken to the castle in the first place. Not that the vampires have actually tried to hurt me yet... I think."

"What do they want from you?" He said, honestly curious.

"They think I'm a weapon," I shrugged. "Not to use on you. They aren't afraid of you. Other vampires. I don't understand what makes me so important, I'm so normal..."

"You must be stronger than average if you managed to survive through this," Luke said, but his face looked a little worried, like he was maybe a touch afraid of me. Wow, that was definitely a first.

Hey, can werewolves only transform at the full moon?" I asked. "And are you really allergic to silver?"

"Nope and nope," Luke said "We can transform anytime we want to, and silver bullets don't kill us. But we aren't immortal, like vampires. We live just about as long as normal people."

"Does that mean that you can live among normal people, like me - I mean, like I used to be?"

"Not unless we have a really good handle on our tempers," he gave me a wry smile. I started to feel ill again, and it must have shown, because his eyebrows went up. "Are you alright?"

I pulled myself up straight again and put on a brave smile, ignoring the crunching pain in my side. I felt so tired...

"Sorry about the accommodation, and the impending slaughter." He ran a hand through his auburn hair sheepishly, which looked wild and tangled. "We aren't famous for being thoughtful creatures, I'm afraid. If it was up to me, I wouldn't have locked you up like this anyway. Will the vampires come back for you?"

"Probably," I said, gritting my teeth. "I don't know..."

"I hope they do," he said, his voice softer, "I don't think you deserve to die. Then again, you don't deserve to live with those monsters either."

_"All megalomaniacs... You're better off dead."_

I nodded gently, feeling sleepy again. I guess Luke must have left a little later, because he wasn't in the dungeon when I woke up again. Instead I heard a new voice, and this one was in my head, joy of joys.

"...humans, always making everything more difficult for themselves, oh my, her mind, full of those hairy brutes..." Was Alexei trying to read my thoughts? "ah, lilly, you're awake, wonderful." Even his thoughts dripped with apathy and sarcasm. "hold on a little bit, if you please."

I remembered him telling me how he was able to read my mind, when I'd been lying in my hospital bed. Because he didn't have to touch me, it worked.

_Get out of my head, Alexei._

I had no idea what had made the thought so strong, probably my disgust at being mind-read, but it was like my entire body clamped down, blocking him off. I could feel his surprise, he was probing the brick wall that had formed in my mind like a bulldozer trying to bring it down, but he couldn't I vaguely caught him thinking "astonishing, she just needs to recognise them..." then he slipped away, and I was alone again.

Then there was another scream of metal hinges, as the door flew open. It was Elias, and he stormed down the stairs towards me, looking furious. Faintly growling under his breath even. He pounded down the stairs, moving to grab me roughly, then there was yet another powerfully familiar voice.

"Do not touch her, Elias."

Standing at the foot of the stairs in a shimmering green dress that seemed to shine through the dimness, was Giselle. Her hair waved delicately as she stepped down the stairs and she offered me a hand to let me stand up. Of, course, it made sense. None of the vampires could come here, but Giselle wasn't a vampire. She was a fairy. And one angry fairy at that. After I got to my feet, my legs trembling and aching, she turned to Elias, her face ferocious.

"You will return the girl Christoph," she said coldly, "Or your co-existence with my people, in this forest, will be made very difficult."

Not just angry fairy either. The fairy queen. She turned back to me, the cold shadowy look on her face, totally reversing into a radiant grin.

"Lilly, don't worry," she said musically, "This mess is going to get sorted out very soon."

Elias looked furious, but he held his tongue and stepped back from her, knowing the consequences. Giselle cheerfully took my hand, really warm in my cold one, and slowly I felt the feeling in my legs come back. It must have been some kind of magic, because when she let go I felt just as bad as before.

"I thought fairies were supposed to be impartial to our wars," Elias's voice came sharply from behind me, "But you had to go off with one of them, didn't you?"

"I am not here on the behalf of the fairies, Elias," replied Giselle calmly, "So calm down."

"What is it that you want so much you need a vampire?" He called after her. His voice echoed loudly.

Giselle didn't answer, and kept walking. I realised that we must have been going towards the exit. I felt like a child being taken home from school, it was awful. I saw a few curious, wolfish faces, looking at me, but I never saw Luke's either. Shame really, I kind of started to like him.

When we got out the door, away from the furious Elias, I saw an emerald green carriage. Tied up it were strange creatures like dragonflies, but really, really big. I had never liked bugs, so I shivered.

"Just think of them as flying horses," Giselle laughed in a bell-like way. Compared how she looked I must have looked like I'd been through hell, which I guess in a way, I sort of had.

Inside the carriage, she sat down gracefully. I fell in heap against a chair, exhausted.

"You can sleep if you want," she smiled, "We'll probably be a little while. How did you ever manage to get all the way out here without killing yourself?"

"With difficulty," I murmured, already half asleep. I felt a lurch as we started moving. Had we lifted off the ground? "Wha's goin' on...?" I mumbled as my eyes flickered shut. From somewhere far away I heard a reply.

"You'll find out soon, Lilly."

I didn't have a single nightmare, either.


	13. 13

**13; something strange is going on around here.**

When I woke up, the sky was light and cold around me. I was shivering - how I'd managed to sleep was a mystery. If I'd had the werewolf fur I would have been toasty but... I shuddered, memories of the snarling werewolves resurfacing.

"Ah, I see you're awake," came the familiar, exotic tones of Giselle. She was sitting relaxed next to me, smiling gently. She actually seemed to glow, free of the hateful look she'd possessed hours before. I quickly sat up, reckoning my hair was a mess, and feeling extremely ugly compared to her exquisiteness. Out of the window of the strange, delicate carriage that I floated in, I saw the black castle looming towards us. I purposefully didn't look down, heights weren't my thing.

There was a barely noticeable thud as we hit the ground. Giselle's stepped elegantly out of the carriage and motioned for me to follow. With rubbery muscles I stumbled after her like a lost child getting lead back to their parents at the mall. Trust me, not a way you want to feel.

The castle hadn't changed, of course. The snow that had fallen was freezing around my ankles. I didn't have the fur anymore, but I was actually more than glad to be rid of it. The heavy oak doors that I'd ran through only a day before were open this time, and I could here voices echoing from inside the halls ahead of us. Giselle's flawless face was kindly, but gave away nothing.

"Christoph, listen to me!" It was the trilling soprano that I recognised. I saw Catherine, her tiny features contorted, and her blonde curls swinging wildly. She looked afraid. And then I saw why.

"You were warned," Christoph smiled spitefully at her, his voice a dead monotone. His eyes were frighteningly dark.

Standing across the other side of the hall were Erik and Felix, flanking Catherine, watching her cautiously. I felt Erik's eyes flick to my face the moment I walked into the hall, and cast my eyes to the ground, afraid to look. A small smirk spread Alexei's otherwise unreadable face, as he watched Catherine's tantrum.

"Christoph," sang Giselle, as though she was immune to all of the tension. "Elias wasn't too difficult - they still fear you, darling."

"Good," Christoph's eyes didn't change, he barely seemed aware that his love had entered the room, "Now all I have to deal with is this mutinous little brat."

Catherine's face, which I thought couldn't get any paler, was a stark white.

"Ch-Christoph," she was whimpering, "I-I-I..." She trailed away, then abruptly her expression turned, and her huge turquoise eyes flicked to me. I saw her fangs lengthening over her lower lip, and unsettling growl grew louder in the tiny child's fault. Her tiny fists, which I knew could crush my windpipe with ease, were clenched tightly.

"This is _your_ fault," the little girl hissed at me, "You stupid little girl. You aren't special, you're so _disposable_, and everyone is blind to it but me!" Her voice rose in pitch and tone as she screamed at me.

Another growl rose, this one quieter, like a warning. I looked to Christoph, but he was just watching Catherine boredly, barely seeing it. Catherine turned to look at Erik instead, and this time she looked angrier than ever... A crazy thought ran through my head. Was she jealous? Of what? I was weak, mortal, and ugly, and yet, she envied me.

"You can't take everything that's mine!" The little girl shrieked at me awfully again. I wanted to cover my ears. "You foolish, insignificant little-"

I stumbled back, realising suddenly that I was terrified. But still no one had moved to stop her. What was going on?

It was a split second after Catherine's feet sprung off the floor, her entire body coiled like a cobra, throwing herself at me, fangs bared. Then there was a flash and a resounding crack that almost deafened me. A few seconds later, as the dust started to clear, I saw a lean head body with dark hair, standing back, as Catherine, still only a child, lay dazed on the ground.

Where she lay was a massive crater in the marble floor, about the size of a voltswagon beetle.

"Careful, Erik," I looked and saw Felix, his normally boyish face serious.

I stared numbly as Erik stepped back, shaking the dust off his frame as though he'd done no more than trip. His face was blank, but his eyes were strangely bright.

I didn't understand, why weren't they angry at _me_? It was my fault I'd got in this mess. So why was everyone gathered around Catherine like she'd just murdered someone? I swallowed nervously, kind of wishing I had just stayed in the forest. The dungeon might have been dull, but at least people weren't trying to kill me for reasons I never knew anything about... Oh, wait...

Giselle smiled comfortingly at me from beside me, sensing my shock. Like a massive dent in the marble was nothing, just a common occurrence. I tried to smile back, but my face was strangely numb as well as the rest of me. I felt faint and light headed.

"Yes, well," A loud sigh drew all of our attention back to Christoph, Alexei standing smugly at his side, like he was in on a joke no one else understood. "That's enough damage, I think, Catherine. Erik, leave her alone."

"Christoph," Catherine was already back on her feet, but she was terrified, looking at him with pleading eyes, "Please..."

"No, Catherine," Christoph snarled at her. "When I took you here, I was giving you a chance for a life - whatever life that was. I don't accept betrayals like this, as you should have known, before you started interfering with my plans. The human doesn't concern you, or your petty jealousies. Clearly, you were more unstable that I'd first thought."

"I can change!" She wailed. It was horrible, like the sound of a child being tortured. I wanted to jam my hands over my ears.

"No, Catherine," Christoph said dryly, "You can't."

His eyes had gone black again, deadly black, that I recognised with a sharp twinge of fear. Spreading out across the pearly marble was that familiar inky black shadow, the one that made you feel like your soul was being ripped out through your chest... And it snaked towards the crying little kid on the floor.

I couldn't look. I didn't understand what Catherine had done, other than trying to kill me, of course. What had she done to betray Christoph? I heard a slight choking noise as the black poison leapt around her, then a horrible childlike scream. I felt all my muscles convulse just hearing it. Then I looked up. Big mistake. Catherine's arms were pulled up to her, wrapped in the awful black shadows, her pretty face twisting in agony. I had never been so glad that I was immune to vampire powers - if that was me I'd bet I'd be dead.

"What are you-" I could stop my voice ringing out over the screams.

Erik's eyes met mine, his face was hard. Definitely a warning to shut the hell up. What was wrong with him? How could any of them watch this, and not care? I felt bile rising in the back of my throat and had to fight to keep it down.

Then the tiny girl went silent, as the shadows clawed over her tiny rosy lips, blotting out her eyes... And receded. Leaving Catherine lying there on the ground mumbling incomprehensibly, her eyes shut, as though she was a real child. She barely moved.

"There," said Christoph. his voice cold. Then he looked at me. "You are unharmed?"

It took me a moment, but I reigned in my disgust, fear and hate, and nodded. I suddenly noticed there were tears on my face, and tried to rub them away.

"Good," Christoph smiled jaggedly. Then he nodded to Felix. "Take Catherine and destroy her." Felix grimaced but bowed his head, and the body of the writhing child, and Felix had disappeared out the door faster than I could blink, or notice the whip of wind as he passed me.

"How can do that?" I said, my voice shaking, as I looked him hard in the eye. He looked a little surprised for a moment, then a relaxed lazy smile curved on his withered face.

"It was your fault that you were almost eaten last night, Lilly," Christoph laughed cruelly, his eyes now back to their original silvery-grey. "Catherine has - had, the power of controlling people's dreams. And she's scarily persuasive. Your idiocy was only fractionally to blame." He smiled genially at this, but I couldn't return it.

The dreams, I remember their brightness and realness... So Catherine had been crawling around inside my head as well as Alexei? I felt slightly less ill, but not much. If I'd only noticed, or found a way to keep her out, none of this would have ever happened, no werewolves, no dreams, no nothing...

_yes, and then she would have found you and torn your head off. Catherine is not good, especially when you're stealing her spotlight, and of course, Erik-_

I stared at Alexei in shock and he smirked at me, winking exaggeratedly. Christoph also seemed in on the joke, because he was smiling bemusedly. I reacted instantly this time, making my mind shut. Alexei scowled. Erik was watching us all, a confused expression on his face, that made my mouth twist a little in amusement. What had Alexei been talking about Erik for anyway?

"Interesting..." Christoph's grin widened, all of his teeth showing. "I assume that you will be properly tested for your curious powers soon," He said, "I don't want to waste my time with you if you aren't what I thought..." I felt my stomach twist nervously - what did that mean? His eyes then fell to the crater in the floor. "Alexei, find someone to fix that."

Alexei also disappeared. Giselle took a couple of light steps towards Christoph, and he smiled at her suddenly, his attention entirely taken away as he followed the line of her body. I looked away pointedly.

"Thank you, Giselle," Said Christoph sweetly. Then he looked at me and Erik, as though he'd forgotten we existed for a moment.

"Take her back to her room, Erik," Christoph smirked, "And this time, no more escapes, human."

With another blink, both Christoph and Giselle had disappeared, and Erik was standing at my side, peering down at me curiously. He didn't look angry, there was actually a slight smile on his lips. I felt my chest contract strangely, like I couldn't breathe. What the hell was wrong with me?

"What?" I snapped, suddenly annoyed, "Does murder get _you_ off as well?"

His smiled widened. I really wished he'd stepped just a little bit away from me. He smelt like vampire, and it was scarily welcome. I wanted to breathe in as deeply as I could. The exhaustion was clearly getting to my head if I felt like this.

"How come, even after all that," he said, his voice unintentionally husky, "You're still won't stop the insults?"

I looked away from him, because I was afraid of what I would think.

"You're heartless," I muttered, looking at my feet. "You don't even care, do you?"

"Honestly," Erik's voice said, sounding darker, "Catherine was always a liability. Child vampires are destroyed for a reason, Lilly. And if we had let her live, then first of all, she could damage all of us." He had moved closer again, I wanted to edge away, but it was too late, because I'd started looking at him. The lines of his face, the spectrum of his smile...

What the fuck?

My stomach dropped as his arms picked me up as easily as if I was a ragdoll. His smell was overpowering, and I think he knew it.

"Secondly," his voice rumbled in my ear, "You'd be dead. And I wouldn't want that."

Before I had time to comprehend it the world spun violently and I was pushed back the whistle of gale force wind. Still, I couldn't help but marvel at how much more comfortable this was than hanging onto Luke's fur for dear life.

Everything stopped, and I was dropped to my feet, barely able to stand. It was my room. Erik smirked at me.

"Oh, and by the way," he grinned brilliantly at me, "The door's being locked again. No more escapades, whether they're your fault or not. Christoph will probably destroy me if he finds out that you've killed yourself."

I scowled at him, ignoring my heart beating way too fast for my chest.

"Plus," His nose wrinkled for a moment, "You absolutely stink of dog - take a shower, for all of us, please."

"Fuck you," I replied intelligently, slamming my door shut in his stupid perfect face. I heard the click of the key in the lock.

"I'm sure you'd die to," I heard his muffled voice through the wood.

It was about three seconds after I realised, horror struck, that he could probably have heard the way my heart reacted when he picked me up, that my head my pillow, and I didn't care anymore. All I cared about was sleep, and sleep on a mattress that was so comfortable I never wanted to wake up.


	14. 14

**14; christoph's theory: tested and proven.**

"Lilly?"

My eyelids felt like they'd been cemented together, but somehow I pried them open to see Zoe's cautious face. She was holding a breakfast tray in her hands, and I'd never felt more hungry in my entire life. ...Wait, did Zoe still hate me for what I did to her? I bit my lip, looked at her nervously, aware that I probably looked crazy, with copper hair sticking up in every direction.

"I'm sorry, Zoe, I really am," I gushed, "I never meant to get you in trouble like that, and I am so glad that you're okay, do you hate me? 'Cause it's totally okay if you do, I deserve it-"

"Lilly, calm down," the corner of her mouth tipped up. I noticed she'd dyed her hair again - it was now a bright fizzing yellow. "I don't hate you. You know, if you'd told me about the dreams I could have warned you... I thought you knew Catherine's powers. But, you're okay, and I'm okay, so, no harm done."

"Thank you, thank you," I stammered. I actually leapt out of bed and hugged her. I think I'd suddenly realised how lucky I was to have a friend at all in this place. "I'm so sorry - you have no idea how angry the werewolves were..."

"I heard," she smirked. "Now, eat your breakfast, or Christoph'll cut my head off. I don't know, I think he thinks you're sick or something, it's weird..."

I was barely listening, I was so engrossed in my cereal. I might have been in the middle of nowhere, but oddly enough they still seemed to have Lucky Charms.

"By the way," Zoe was looking and me curiously, and I paused for a moment, "There's a rumour going around that the werewolves are going to war with us - is that your fault?"

"Um, sorta," I mumbled through a mouth full of marshmallows. I started telling her the story of what had happened, and her expression turned pensive as she listened.

"Christoph killed her?" Zoe asked, her eyes wide.

I nodded. "He was angry. I never knew he got that angry."

"Yeah, well, it was bound to happen. Catherine hates every human. She wished she could grow older... And you, well," Zoe said contemplatively, "Erik's always leaping to your rescue, haven't you noticed?"

"No," I scowled at her, folding my arms. I had, but I wasn't going to admit it. Zoe rolled her eyes at me, and smirked.

"Catherine must have got jealous because Erik treats you nicer than he treats her. Catherine was in love with Erik, you know."

I stared at her bewildered, but something finally clicked and then I understood. It had been obvious real, the way her eyes had followed him whenever she was in the room - but she was just a kid. Zoe smirked bemusedly at my realisation. I scowled. I don't know why, but I suddenly felt a little less pity for her. Catherine should have known that it was impossible - but why did that make her jealous of me? Sure, there was the human thing...

"Wait, did Catherine think that Erik was _in love with me_?!" I blurted out loudly, staring at Zoe like she was insane. "_That _was why she tried to have me _killed_?" I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or run away. Why were all the vampires around here in love with Erik? Catherine, Celeste - sure, he was pretty, but what was so great about him anyway?

Zoe smirked at me, "Well, you do look awfully like-"

"Victoria," I rolled my eyes, "It's been a while since I heard that one. Who the hell is she anyway? Erik's dead ex-girlfriend or something? _So what?" _

"I was just wondering if maybe-"

_"_That's totally ridiculous!" I spluttered, folding my arms.

"I guess you wouldn't have realised, since you haven't been here so long, but since you got here, something about Erik's changed." Zoe was looking at me with a suspicious grin, and I didn't like it. I avoided her gaze prudishly, looking at my feet in concentration. "He's sort of..."

"A jackass?" I suggested quickly.

"Nope," Zoe laughed, "He just doesn't seem to mope around the castle as much."

"Whatever, I'm gonna go take a shower," I announced loudly, cutting her off, and ran into the background before she could say anything else. I heard her huff loudly from behind the locked door.

Anyway, I mused, it wasn't as though I had really affected anyone here. It was silly to think that anyway. Plus, Erik wasn't my friend. He annoyed me, he toyed with me like a cat plays with hapless, stupid little mouse. He'd practically thrown me out of a window, and caused me to lose my temper and nearly get eaten by zombies. Plus, he was technically a bloodsucking monster.

Victoria. Oh, I hated that name. I wish someone would give me at least a clue. It was starting to look like there was only one thing I could do.

Zoe passed me some clothes through so I could get changed - a pair of designer jeans, and a sea-blue versace top. Clearly it didn't matter that I wouldn't be leaving this room anytime soon - I still had to dress like a rock star. I was just mentioning this to her, when there was a knock at my door.

A distraction had arrived in the form Celeste. Her breath-taking face was grave, and her dark, twisting hair was slightly out of place, like she'd ran up here. She saw me and her lips twitched slightly, like an attempt at a smile, but her deep eyes were worried. Zoe's eyes had forcibly been torn away from me, and were fixed on Celeste. I guessed it worked that way no matter what gender a vampire was - Zoe's eyes had already gone dazed and besotted. Dang pheromones.

"Um, Lilly," Celeste chimed, her voice ringing like bells, "Christoph wants to speak to you, um, downstairs. He asked me to bring you."

"What does he want?" I asked, curious. Christoph had told me he'd wanted to test out his theory, hadn't he? I suddenly had a bad feeling in my guts.

"He wouldn't tell me, Lilly," Celeste sighed, seeming perfectly composed despite her troubled face. "He just asked me to bring you downstairs. Sorry."

I looked at Zoe again - she was still transfixed. I waved my hand in front of her face, and she nodded a little, looking back up at me. Then she realised what had happened, and cursed loudly, and her face went a little red.

"Um, sorry," she mumbled embarrassedly, adding to me in an undertone, "You have no idea how lucky you are."

Celeste's perfectly shaped mouth cracked a tiny smile, and me and Zoe both remembered how sensitive a vampire's hearing was.

Yeah, lucky - not if Christoph was going to eat me, I thought nervously. Nonetheless, I nodded and Celeste, moving to follow her out the room. Zoe stared after us timidly. My heart was thudding in my chest, and Celeste turned to look at me, obviously, hearing it. It was a little shocking just how beautiful she was - even compared to the perfect specimens of vampires she lived with - she was a photographer's dream - that was, except for the fangs. I couldn't help but feel jealous of her, I just couldn't compare.

What was Zoe talking about when she said Erik liked me? Clearly, the madness of this place had gotten to her too. Next to all the supernatural beauty and strength, I was nothing - who cared about Victoria? I chewed my lip as I followed Celeste, painfully aware of how clumsy and slow and ugly I was.

"I don't think he's going kill you," She said quietly to me, as though it was a consellation. I felt my stomach twist anxiously.

"Do you have any wierd and wonderful powers that I should know about?" I stared at her archly. I felt uncontrollably jealous, and I couldn't help the tone leak into my voice. "All of Christoph's friends have some freaky gift, like mind-reading or dreams that make you kill yourself - I'm just checking."

"My "powers"" she used air quotes, smiling softly, "Are affecting you right now. Christoph picked me out because I'm uncommonly pretty. It puts people off guard, it can make people trust me - but in most females, it just makes them hate me. I don't mean to do it, but that's my life."

"I... er," I didn't know what I was supposed to say. I didn't really mind Celeste... She just made me feel inferior. "I can't help it," I said grudgingly, "Sorry, I suppose."

She laughed, her voice like bell tones, "That's actually one of the nicer things, compared to what most other girls say."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, ouch," she said again, her smile fading.

We had stopped at a pair of large heavy doors. The air was cold enough so that I could see my breath in front of my face. We had gone down a lot of stairs, were we underground now? I was worried again. What did Christoph want? Was he really not going to kill me? Who knew, you couldn't trust him anyway. I couldn't trust anyone here, Catherine had shown me that. Celeste was now heaving open the doors, the troubled look settling over her perfect features again.

I had been such an idiot to go with Celeste, I should have stayed with Zoe - she didn't have fangs or a thirst for blood - what if Celeste wanted to kill me to?

However, the room was dark and empty. My footsteps echoed around us as I followed her inside.

"Where's Cristoph?" I asked, my voice reverberating off the bare rocky walls.

There was a sudden screech of metal, like the sound of a rusty grate being lifted. I felt faint. I could smell copper in the air. Oh God, I was in trouble. I looked towards Celeste but she had turned away, her face tortured. Her dark eyes darted away from my face. Footsteps came swiftly out of the gloom.

"I'm so sorry, Lilly."

Celeste's voice was barely a whisper in my ear. Then she was gone. The doors slammed shut. The footsteps were more rapid, with more force, like stone slabs cracking off the ground - like a vampire. Red eyes glared at me through the dim. I couldn't move, I was paralysed. I was going to die, after all this, I was going to get eaten. Oh shit.

A vampire I didn't recognise, thin, with wild, tangled hair and a jagged, rotten smile came charging towards me, knocking me back before I even saw it. On reflex, I struggling as his teeth sunk into the vulnerable flesh of my neck. There was a sharp spike of pain, and then... nothing. A strange feeling, that left me weaker and weaker with every breath. And bloody red eyes of a vampire that looked starved of a meal for months.

And then it stopped. I blinked. My heart slowed. My vision cleared. The strange vampire had let go of me, and I was lying on the ground, dizzy and disoriented, but otherwise, barely hurt. My hands moved to my neck, and came away only slightly bloody.

The oddest thing though was the way the vampire had changed. His eyes weren't red. They were brown, and full of confusion and despair. He was looking at him hands - feeling them - they were fleshy and faded, like any other human. The vampire sheen seemed to have left him. His fangs had completely receded, back into rounded human teeth, and he didn't say a word. He looked at me, and suddenly he looked terrified.

I started to pull myself together, the fatigue melting away as quickly as it had come. I had just been bitten by a vampire - and I was totally fine.

_What the hell was going on?_

"What is this-"

The once-vampire had just started to talk, when Christoph had slipped behind him, held his head in his hands, and pulled it violently, swiftly to the side, with a loud heart-stopping crack. The man twitched, then stopped, and was thrown to the floor. I gasped.

Christoph grinned widely at me, his dark eyes gleaming. He offered me a hand off the ground. I took it, but only because I was afraid of what would happen if I didn't. My head was still reeling. Had I just turned a vampire into a mortal?

"How do you feel, darling?" He asked me enthusiastically.

"Like shit." I glared at him, "What did you just do to me?"

"Oh, feisty," he purred. "Aren't you even capable of appreciating how lucky you are? You are _immune_. Do you see that?" He pointed to the dead guy, and I could feeling myself shrinking away. "You're an antidote. A temporary antidote, of course, but an antidote none the less. You see," he gestured grandly to himself, "While my blood can turn a mortal into a vampire, your's can turn a vampire back. And believe me child, that's a very useful threat over a vampire's head. _You_ could be a very useful asset."

I shook my head, not wanting to believe it. Because if I didn't meant one thing. Christoph was never going to let me go.


	15. 15

**A/N: Like gawd, I had so much writer's block with this chapter it was unbelievable. But then again, I was distracted by a couple other ideas I've been playing around with on my fictionpress site. :) Feel free to check them out, hint hint. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I'm still not sure I entirely like it. So tell me what you think. Be cruel, I don't mind. To be honest I'll be surprised if anyone's still paying attnetion to this old story, lol. :D But hey, who knows. **

* * *

**15; the truth about victoria; like, gasp!**

I had been unceremoniously taken back to my room, the door locked tightly shut. The first thing I did was look for the blackberry I'd hidden in the drawer, turn it on, and try and use it to remember when my life was normal. It felt like a very long time ago. Other than that, I didn't want to move. I felt like I was being watched all the time, Like Christoph's eyes were following me wherever I went.

I didn't want to be some magical vampire cure. I wasn't supposed to be anything special.

The wound on my neck was barely itching and healing so fast that it now barely looked like a bad hickey. I hoped it wouldn't leave a scar, because if it did, I was going to have a lot of them, as Christoph had told me. He had big plans. Apparently he wanted us to go on tour, destroy all of his enemies permanently. Maybe afterwards he'd try and turn me vampire - if it was possible, and make me one of his heirs, like Erik or Alexei.

My strategy for dealing for this was sitting on my bed, curled up in a ball and shutting my eyes for hours. Visions of red glinting eyes advancing on me were hard to block out, but slowly I was getting there. It was like sitting on death row. I knew something horrible was going to happen, but there was nothing I could do but sit and think about it till my brain went completely numb to the feeling.

Erik's words were coming back to haunt me, and I suddenly understood why he hated this place. Alexei, Celeste, Felix, Catherine... They were all Christoph's prisoners too, in a way. Some of them wanted it, and some of them didn't, and that was the only difference.

I wondered exactly what was going to happen to me, but then I stopped thinking about it, in case I didn't want to know.

My slowly revolving thoughts were interrupted by a sound from outside. Obviously they had wanted me to hear, or else I wouldn't have heard it. I didn't move anyway, my muscles still felt weak and didn't want to move anymore. I'd gone through too much for anymore of this crap. I'd had enough.

"You're here."

Erik was grinning at me from the archway, leaning against it in a surprisingly human pose. His dark hair was messy and sticking up from the flight here and he looked devastatingly handsome in the typical supernatural way.

When he was here the weight in my chest became a little easier to ignore. I didn't want to think about why, so I smiled back minutely.

"Well, it's not like I'd be anywhere else," I answered, rolling my eyes, "I can't phase through walls... What are you doing here anyway?"

Erik took one look at me, curled up like a mental case, and I noticed a shadow flit over his face for a moment. A devilish smirk starting spreading across his face... _Like this could possibly be good..._

I sprang up off the bed, but I had no chance against his supernatural speed. A pair of cold steel-strong hands had bonded around my wrists and Erik had pulled me up without a trace of effort. I glared at him. Bipolar steroid-strong freak.

"What do you want?" I growled, sounding just as feral as any vampire.

"We're going for a walk," Erik replied smugly, a lopsided smile on his face that on anyone else but him would have looked completely goofy. "You know, you really should get out more, Lilly, spending all this time in your room simply can't be called healthy."

"I thought I only got into trouble when I went outside?" I sneered at him, trying to avoid the eyes that were boring into my face.

"_I_ am much more responsible than you are," Erik said, "That's why _I'm_ taking you."

"You're the one who locked me in-" I started, but my voice caught in my throat when Erik flipped me into his arms like a ragdoll.

He caught sight of the scandalised look on my face and chuckled at me.

_"Put me down!" _I almost shrieked, my face going red. Erik's grin split even wider. I could remember last time Erik had decided to take me on a little trip - and how had that ended? On the freaking roof, with me practically dying of vertigo. Oh, and he'd threaten to fly us straight into the ground - off the twentieth floor of the castle...

"Relax, _human_," Erik said, but this time he wasn't sneering, he smiled lightly at me.

I wish I could have been telling the truth when I said I didn't like how I felt when I was in his arms. Instead I just scowled in the direction of my feet, doing my best to ignore him. I felt him laughing again.

Suddenly the whole world jerked forward at such apace that my scream was drowned out by the whistling air. I instantly grabbed Erik's shoulders before I went flying off God knows where (and, yep, he laughed at that too), and I felt Erik's arms wrap round me a little more securely. At least this time he hadn't decided to fly, I thought, squeezing my eyes shut tight. It wasn't so bad when you got used to it, I guess...

I didn't even realised we'd stopped moving until he hissed my name in my ear, sounding extremely amused.

"I wasn't-" I started, my face heating up, but I stopped talking when I opened my eyes.

We were outside, in the castle gardens. It was beautiful. Or rather, it should have been beautiful. I stared, speechless at the unkempt green lawns and the withering flowerbeds. The statues were ugly, cracked and moss covered. It hurt to think that if this place had had the loving care of any garden in the human world it could have won prizes. The stars had just come out in their twinkling thousands and had set a strange greeny-blue hue over the place. It looked like something out of A Midsummer Night's dream...

"Whoa," I breathed, awestruck.

I felt my feet brush the ground, and realised with a slight pang of regret that Erik had stepped away from me.

"This is nothing," Erik said, his voice much quieter. He was turned away from me and was looking out towards the end, where there were decaying willow trees. I could see fireflies, little specks of light in the gloom.

"It's a hundred times nicer than my back yard," I said softly.

Erik turned back to look at me, and smiled sadly. In the half-light it would have been impossible to tell that he was really a blood-sucking monster. I wondered what he was remembering, how many years ago it was... A hundred? Two hundred? I was only sixteen... Or was I seventeen now? I didn't even know today's date.

"Before... Well," Erik shook his head, "It used to be _really_ beautiful. But no one goes here anymore. Christoph, Celeste, Alexei... None of them really care much about it. Victoria was the only one who used to come here. She loved it."

He turned away from me again, looking down the garden. The expression on his face made him look like a lost little kid. I didn't want to upset him... But I couldn't help it. The curiosity was impossible to ignore anymore.

"Erik, who was Victoria?" I said, my voice more resolute than ever.

Erik paused for a moment, then turned and looked at me stoically. His eyes seemed to be a dark murky jade.

"Victoria was the one who made me become a vampire," he replied, tonelessly, "She was one of Christoph's children. Like me and Alexei. He'd changed her himself, like me. She was beautiful, one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen, but she had a terrible gift, and she hated herself. Victoria could bring people back to life... But to do it, she had to take life away."

His hard face softened whenever he said her name, and I began to gather what Victoria had actually meant to him. I bit my lip, unsure of why he was telling me.

"You fell in love with her, didn't you?" I asked, my voice terrifyingly quiet.

Erik was looking at me intensely, and he nodded simply.

"She begged me not to become a vampire," He said, sounding hoarser by the minute, "She said she didn't want me to become like her... I never listened, of course. I was too obsessed by her."

"So you went to Christoph..." I said, piecing it together.

"Yes," Erik said, nodding again, "I went to Christoph, and he changed me into what I am now. When Victoria found out she couldn't stand the sight of me. She thought it was her fault for making me want her. I couldn't go back - in my old society I was a disgrace, I was corrupted and I was a monster. I'd done it for Victoria, but now she didn't want me. She couldn't face what I'd done. And then..."

Erik went silent, and his eyes fell to the floor. I could feel tears in my eyes, and realised that I felt sorry for him. The silence was like a thick suffocating blanket around us.

"She took her own life," Erik said abruptly, "She used her powers to take her life and put it into this garden. Every year it gets more broken and messier - but it's irremovable."

I took another look at the garden, and realised with a jolt that those little lights weren't actually fireflies. But they were still there. Intangible... Erik's face looked so desolate that for a moment the weight began to resettle on my chest and I began to feel that way too. I stepped forward determinedly, smiling.

"This place is still beautiful Erik," I amended, "So, um... Thanks for telling me about it."

A strange smile flitted over his face when he looked up at me, and he nodded.

"You know," he said, closing the distance between us, "Alexei said that you looked like Victoria... But, I don't think you do." I could feel his eyes, bright emerald gain and fixed on my face like he was bewitched. My heart had started thudding in my chest, like it was out of control.

"You don't?" My mouth was dry. He was so close I could have counted his thick, dark eyelashes, if my brain wasn't so hectic.

"No," Erik said, a smile tugged at the corner of his lips as his eyes roamed my face, "You're very different, but... You're beautiful, all the same." I could see the glint of his fangs in the moonlight.

Suddenly, Erik froze, stock still, his eyes wide. I blinked. His eyes were fixed on my neck. It took me a few seconds before I realised what he was staring at. My hand unconsciously rubbed the fading bite mark on the side of my neck. Erik knew exactly what it was. His eyes were narrowed, and I saw his fangs lengthening over his bottom lip.

"Erik?" I said, carefully putting my hands on his shoulders, trusting him not to go berserk. He was as tense as frozen iron.

A snarling growl ripped out of his throat, shaking his entire frame. It took me another few seconds to realise the noise he'd made sounded a lot like the name - "Christoph". I stepped away, because it looked like Erik was about to spring. I hadn't noticed before... But he looked paler than usual. Hungrier.

"What the fuck did he do?" Erik said, stepping further back, fighting not to fly for me. "Why didn't you-?"

I didn't want him to be angry. I didn't want this. I didn't want Christoph to hurt me. I didn't want Christoph to hurt anyone else who got in the way. That was I couldn't have told him. But my mouth couldn't seem to form words, I was so afraid of what Erik was going to do. I felt tears in my eyes again, knowing I was definitely not doing well at looking casual. Couldn't I go _one day_ without crying?!

"Lilly," Erik pressed, his voice husky with rage, "What happened?" His body looked sharp and lethal, a predator.

"Christoph was right," I swallowed hard, looking at the mossy grass. "I'm... I'm what he was looking for. I'm immune."

"He _bit_ you?!" Erik voice was furious.

"No, he -" I looked up and stared wide-eyed at Erik. Images of the disobedient Catherine were flicking through my mind one after the other, followed by images of Erik in the same state. Writhing in agony for disobeying his creator, lifeless, mumbling on the ground...

Erik's black wings unfurled like a hysterical bat, and faster than I could move, his cold arms had wrapped around me crushingly tight. We took off, and I felt the wind whipping through me, and Erik's heavy breathing in my ear. I had the feeling that with each breath he took he could smell the blood rushing through my veins, but I knew I had nothing to worry about. Erik never hurt me, he'd always been the one who saved me.

But this time...

Erik put me down on the black balcony outside my prison-cum-bedroom, gently as ever, and as instantly as he had set me down, he had leapt away from me and out of my grasp. I ran to the window ledge to stop him but it was too late. He couldn't hear me.

"Erik, wait! ERIK!" I shouted hoarsely, my voice echoing around me...

I saw the black shadow of Erik's wings against the night sky, and then he disappeared.

He couldn't fight Christoph. He couldn't, but what if he did? There was nothing I could do. Christoph couldn't be stopped... And I was uselessly locked up in this stupid room. I didn't want to think about what might happen to Erik either. I felt nauseous. The weight on my chest was heavier than ever.


	16. 16

**A/N: Okay, I couldn't leave this idea uncompleted. Only a few more chapters to go, and I promise, it'll find a conclusion. (; It you're still reading that is. Anyways, just curious, but who's your favourite character so far? Major or minor, I don't mind, I just really want to know. Can anyone say plot twist? ;D I love you guys who review! :D**

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16; life or death? i guess it's up to me...

It took me about thirty seconds to decide what I had to do next. I _needed_ to get out of here now - before something horrible happened to him. My fingers flew to the healing red weal on my neck - if I hadn't let Erik seen it then none of this would have happened. Christoph had told me not to tell Erik, he must have known he'd react this way. My heart was pounding in my chest furiously at the thought of what might happen now...

But the door was locked tight. I was trapped here, waiting.

_Rather a pity, isn't it sweetheart?_

A heard a familiar, smug voice, rattling inside my head. Of course, Alexei would be trying to read my mind, wouldn't he?

_Oh please, your thoughts really aren't that interesting. Honestly, you seem completely oblivious to what's right in front of your face. Idiot human; if Erik dies trying to defend you, which is ridiculous, then it's due to your own foolishness._

Normally, I would have blocked Alexei's heinous mind off completely, but now I was desperate for information. What was he talking about, and would it help me get out of this room? Alexei could sense the curiosity, because I could hear the smugness in his thoughts. Did he know a way I could get out of here?

_Why would I help you? Or Erik, for that matter. You're both my opponents in this little game - it's like watching rats in a maze. The only thing I really lament is the loss of Erik - in a strategic way - he really was very useful sometimes. Don't worry though; Christoph knows he will always have my obedience. Once Erik is gone - _a flicker of something terrible in my mind, Erik in pain, writhing as he was smothered by black shadow - _I promise I'll keep a much more diligent guard on you._

I could hear his laughter echoing in my head - but I was paralysed by the image of Erik. _No, that couldn't be happening. _Alexei had to be lying - Erik couldn't be -

Another image interrupted my thoughts, Christoph's voice in Alexei's thoughts: "I warned you, and now you have to eliminated... Catherine will be glad of your company I guess."

A long tortured sound followed. At first I couldn't recognise it - then I realised what it was. It was Erik.

I shut my mind, unable to listen to the sound, barely aware of the tears on my face. What had I done? He could be dying right now, and there was nothing I could do. Every second that ticked by felt like hours. I ran out to the balcony, staring over the edge, my fingernails digging into my palms. What if he was gone already?

There was an undescrible feeling in my chest - something acutely painful and empty. This was all my fault. If I wasn't some sort of monster-magnet with super-powered blood, he'd be okay. That was all I wanted. Erik couldn't leave me.

There was a loud click, interrupting the sound of my laboured breathing. The door opened.

"Lilly?" Alexei's voice echoed through my room, sounding malicious.

A vampire, with long glittering fangs, ashen skin and stone hard muscle had come looking for me. Either he had bad news, or he had bad news. I stayed on the balcony, not wanting to look at him.

"You can't hide from me darling," He snickered, "I can hear your heartbeat. It's just _racing._"

I swallowed hard and forced myself to face him - but I didn't have a choice. When I looked around, Alexei stood on the balcony, inches from me, a mocking smirk on his smooth, face. I froze, feeling more vulnerable than I ever had in the presence of a vampire. The depths of his brown eyes seemed to be laughing.

"Erik's not here to protect you anymore," He whispered, his breath intoxicatingly sweet on my face.

Oh God, he was going to kill me.

"Bite me, and you're mortal," I said, my voice shaking desperately.

I tried to take a step back, and I hit the edge of the parapet, nearly wobbling back and over the edge. Alexei grinned, then reached out and gripped my shoulder - hard enough to make me cry out in pain.

"I wasn't going to bite you my dear," he said, victory curling up at one corner of his mouth. "You blocked me out of your head. I only assumed that I had to come and speak to you in person."

With one steel strong arm he forced me away from the balcony. I didn't want to here what he told me. Erik couldn't be. He had to be alive.

"I had to tell you of the tragedy," he repeated, but his eyes were fixed on my neck, "its only common courtesy..."

"You're lying," I said, my voice trembling. I sounded weak and unbelievable.

"Am I?" He grinned. "You know, your heart is truly pounding - it's quite mesmerising. Such a shame that your blood is poisonous - eating you would have been the sweetest revenge imaginable."

The way he looked at me made my skin crawl.

"Where is Christoph?" I glared at him, "If something's happened to Erik, then Christoph will know."

"You don't have any authority here, _human_," Alexei snarled.

Suddenly, something on his face twitched - the moment I thought of the word Christoph. His grip on my shoulder slackened and he withdrew his arm. His eyes were distant for a moment, before they came back to me; the hateful look on his face was resumed.

"Lucky you," He spat, "Christoph, it appears, would like to speak to you. Not that I can at all understand _why._.."

I didn't even have time to draw breath before Alexei's arms wrapped carelessly around me, and I was trapped in a stone embrace. I didn't have time to prepare myself for the sudden movement of the world around me either. My room peeled away at an alarming rate, the wind lashed at my face mercilessly as Alexei carried me into the bowels of the castle. And if the state of my body was confused - the state of my head was a meaningless slush of and panic, hope and despair.

We stopped in a room I had been in once before. I remembered Erik taking me here, the first time I met Christoph. It had been nerve-wracking, but nothing like what it was now.

Alexei unclamped his arms and I literally fell to the floor in shock - my legs too rubbery to support myself. I scrambled up as soon as I hit the floor - but then I froze when I opened my eyes and looked around properly.

Christoph was sitting idly at his desk, tapping a pen agitatedly. When he saw me and the frosty-faced Alexei he stopped, and the cold fury on his face burnt right through me. His eyes were pure black emptiness.

Even worse; I couldn't see Erik.

Oh no. No. This couldn't be happening.

"Where is he?" I croaked, immediately looking at Christoph. "What did you do to him?"

Christoph didn't say anything. He stood up gracefully, his eyebrows high on his forehead. I gritted my teeth in anger. Why wouldn't he tell me? I had to know what had happened!

"I hate to say I told you so," came Alexei's snide voice from beside me. Christoph gave him a supremely withering glance, and Alexei quietly amended himself. "Master," he added, nodding lowly to him.

Despite this, I was aware that Christoph's eyes had not left my face.

"Alexei," he said quietly, dangerously, "I don't think I'll be requiring your talents. You may leave."

"But master-"

"I said," Christoph's obsidian eyes glittered, "You may _go_."

Alexei said nothing more, sparing me one final sneer before he disappeared silently and instantly with barely a hint of a breeze at my side to denounce himself. It was just me and Christoph now. I took a deep rattling breath, preparing myself for judgement. This was it. Erik was gone, and I would be his prisoner, his instrument for destruction. It didn't matter anymore anyway.

"Lilly," Christoph said, and this time there was no trace of a smile on his face, "I believe I explained the terms of our... rather, your ability."

I nodded. I remembered his terms, clear as crystal:

_"From now on, Lilly the human, you are mine." _

_The memory of Christoph's clear commanding voice across the darkened dungeon, the dead man now lying motionless and forgotten behind us, watching from the corner of his eye. My neck pulsed strangely, but I could already feel it beginning to heal, the venom beginning to subside, like the sting after an injection. Christoph's face was triumphant, ecstatic, but serious._

_"You will do only as __I__ command you, or as my soldiers command you," he continued zealously. "You will not leave your room - you will not allow any vampire to bite you, unless it has been planned by myself."_

_I nodded, knowing that I had no choice._

_"The only people that know of your special talent are myself, and Alexei. I can't keep secrets from him. No one else is to know what happened here, should you come into contact with them. If I find out that someone else knows, your usefulness will greatly decrease. I can't promise that you won't be destroyed, Lilly. And I certainly can't promise that whoever learns this secret shall be completely eradicated."_

Christoph's terms and conditions. Erik was dead, and I was going to follow him.

Christoph walked over to me slowly, savouring the look of horror on my face. He paused right before he walked into me, and I was suddenly struck by the weary, thinness of his skin. Even beneath the healthy colour he looked older than anything I'd ever seen before. Ancient.

The hairs on my arms stiffened when his arm shot out, so fast I never even saw it, and wrapped around my wrist like a metal vice. I noted his skin was warm, almost human.

Then I felt nothing.

A black, horrible, drowning sensation clawed at my breath, pulling me down into a pit of scratching, clawing dead hands. Everything around me flickered in and out of existence as the inky puddle crawled up my arm. I couldn't resist it, I couldn't close it off. It was too powerful, it was taking over. Memories were driven from mind; all I could feel was pain and suffering. This was unlike any kind of pain I'd ever felt before - it ripped at you and burnt you inside and out until you wanted to die, anything to make it stop -

Then I was looking straight into Christoph's eyes, screaming and crying.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please, don't-"

"Silence," he hissed, throwing my arm down from him, repulsed. He looked unbearably tired - had it been that hard to cause an effect on me? "Now, Lilly," Christoph snarled, "Let me inform you of your situation.

"Erik, _my_ heir, and _my_ property," he said forcefully, "Appears to be very... drawn to you. This much is painfully obvious. Alexei had been able to read his mind of course, and has been telling me for a long time how Erik has been incapable of not interfering with you. Some of his past nature still remains, it seems. He thought he could protect you, like a shiny little toy. Beyond that... His feelings have been rather material. An infatuation, say."

I felt something in my chest give a twinge. Christoph had used the present tense - so Erik had to be still alive. I could see his face in my mind, the brightness of his eyes, altogether too beautiful to be deserved.

_"An infatuation..."_

For some indiscernible reason, I felt my heart give a limp twinge at Christoph's words.

"Now, I hope you weren't _dazzled_ into reciprocating these imaginary feelings," Christoph continued blankly. "We both know that a human and a vampire relationship is taboo - so I won't be ridiculous anymore. A vampire is frankly too good for you."

The worst part was that I knew he was right. I couldn't actually be in love with Erik. It was impossible, completely unbelievable... So why did I feel so bad?

"So this leaves you with a choice," Christoph smiled menacingly. "You and Erik will no longer communicate, and your chief guard will be changed. If either of you refuse... Well, I'll regret having to destroy two of my most gifted vampires in one week. Erik shall be destroyed, to my dismay, and to many of the others as well. He is being held in the dungeons at this very minute, waiting for your answer."

My breathing hitched.

"I can't-"

"He lives, or he dies," Christoph enforced. "It's your choice."


	17. 17

**17; seperation.**

I sat morosely at my desk, looking blankly at the half-filled notebook in front of me. I couldn't remember how long I'd been in this room. I was literally starting to hear voices. The only people I'd seen for the past week were Zoe, who still came faithfully each day with clothes, food and books to keep me (barely) entertained while I was stuck in this place, and occasionally Kay - the peculiar vampire with the mahogany skin who refused to drink human blood. Kay was my new approved guard. She didn't unlock the door. When I asked her if Erik was okay, she'd told me he was alive, and that he'd gone away.

She didn't say where though.

Even though Zoe had given me things to do, I hadn't bothered with any of them. I hadn't managed to focus my mind much beyond the strange emptiness, and the memory of Christoph's cold voice.

_"You and Erik will no longer communicate..."_

Zoe kept telling me I spent too much time sitting out on the balcony, but I couldn't help it. I had to be there, just in case he came back, or anyone came back. Even Alexei. Anyone with some information. Anything.

If anything I was angry. How come Erik hadn't even _tried_ to talk to me? How come I hadn't even seen him... I hadn't seen him since we'd been standing out on this balcony, nights ago, while I begged him not to go to Christoph.

_"Christoph was right," I swallowed hard, looking at the mossy grass. "I'm... I'm what he was looking for. I'm immune."_

_"He bit you?!" Erik's voice was furious._

Was there something wrong with me? Why was I obsessing over a vampire that clearly didn't even care that much about me anyway? A vampire who was banned from seeing me, or otherwise be killed - of course he wouldn't acknowledge me, of course he'd leave... I wasn't important. I was just a useful tool so that Christoph could build an empire. I shouldn't even care about Erik - what about my family? What about my life in America that I'd been torn away from?

Still, I couldn't help it. I felt like something had been hollowed out of me and thrown away. It was unbearable, but it was possible to ignore.

The days stretched out.

*******

"Lilly, say something," Zoe sat at the end of my bed, her heavy boots clunking off the edge, shooting me an aggravated look.

"Hi, Zoe," I replied tonelessly, "Isn't it such a nice day today? The Sun is out, and the birds are tweeting - oh, wait, we don't get any birds here because this castle is full of stinking monsters -"

"I meant say something that wasn't bitter, spiteful or emotionless," Zoe sighed, "But I guess that'll do as well."

"I _am_ bitter, spiteful and emotionless," I reminded her, looking at the food in front of me boredly. "I don't think you'd be very happy in this situation either."

"Yeah," Zoe said, "But at least _I_ wouldn't sit and stare at the walls all day."

I took one look at her sunshine yellow hair, and the wicked smile that constantly stayed on her face, and I kind of believed it. If Zoe were me, she'd probably had tried to escape by now, kicked the door in, jumped off the balcony or something. I winced as another memory surfaced in my mind.

_The Earth was second was seconds away, and Erik wasn't showing any signs that he would stop falling. He was going to kill us... well, just me._

_"Fine! I promise!" I squeaked, shutting my eyes on impending doom, burying my face against him. "I won't - just start flying, you idiot!"_

Then Zoe was looking at me, biting her lip nervously.

"Lilly, are you okay?"

I smoothed out my face quickly and put on a false smile. Zoe raised an eyebrow - she was not convinced. She stood up rapidly, coming to a decision.

"Okay," She announced loudly, "That's it - you're leaving this room right now."

"Zoe, I don't think that's-" I tried to resist her, but the time spent in this prison had severely weakened me - and Zoe was surprisingly strong. She gripped my arm tightly and yanked me off my chair, ignoring my protests. Luckily I was dressed - Zoe had thankfully given me a pair of black jeans and a decidedly Zoe-ish black and red corset top. A little bit goth, but at least I'd actually got out of bed today.

It wasn't until she'd pulled me out - struggling - into the tangle of corridors, that I realised that if either of us were caught, we were dead.

"Zoe, please," I said, "This really isn't a good idea..."

"Why not?" She answered boldly, "Kay's nice, she won't mind. She won't threaten to drink my blood. There's no problem, see?"

No, Kay won't, I thought, But Christoph will...

It was too late though - Zoe had taken the key and locked my bedroom door, just so I couldn't get back in. I couldn't explain to her why, not without telling her the whole story. Which I also wasn't allowed to do. Damn it.

Well, maybe a little freedom couldn't hurt, I decided recklesly. It wasn't like it mattered if I died or not. I needed a little danger in my life.

"Where are we going?" I asked Zoe, a new confidence in my voice.

"I dunno," Zoe answered cheerfully, "You haven't met any of the other staff here yet - I know we're not as sparkly as vampires, but I'm sure they'd be enthusiastic to meet you..."

"Um, fine," I answered hesitantly. Because despite myself, I was a little curious.

"Great to see you're co-operating," Zoe smirked, before flouncing off ahead of me.

Trying to find your way in this place still confused me - even now. This time we went a completely different way, one that Zoe seemed to know much better than any others. This castle still amazed me - is was really no wonder that Alexei was so fixed on winning it. We climbed so many stairs that I was heaving for a breath, but at last we reached it - The Servant's Quarters of Christoph's palace.

The door was a long portrait that reminded me a little of Harry Potter. Zoe heaved it open unceremoniously, and together we walked through into a warm looking room with two big sofas, lots of bookcases (this must have been where Zoe had brought all the books from), and a flickering fireplace.

A couple people who were sitting down looked up as we entered.

"Hey guys!" Zoe said exuberantly, "You won't believe who I brought!"

A guy with dark brown hair and glasses stared at me, his eyes even rounder and browner behind his spectacles, and a girl with really long hair in a blonde pleat gasped.

"Lilly?" The girl smiled, "Hi! I'm Amber!"

"Is that Erik's Lilly?" The guy with glasses surveyed me.

"Um, what?"

Had he just called me what I think he did?

"Oh," Zoe laughed, "It's just a nickname. Y'know, since Erik's like, your knight in shining armour, or whatever. I guess I might have let one or two stories slip..." She shuffled her feet sheepishly, looking at the floor.

The girl, Amber, was looking at me in something like admiration, or maybe even jealousy. It was kind of weird how she wouldn't stop staring at me. The boy however, looked kind of disappointed. Did they seriously believe Zoe's stupid stories? Erik _did not_ have _anything_ to do with me, I thought with a slight pang.

"Are you kidding me?" I croaked at them, a little disturbed.

"I think it's totally adorable - vampires are so... alluring, aren't they?" Amber said, her bubbly personality already shining through, "You know, before you got here, Erik was the most humourless vampire, even by _their_ standards - but since you got here, he's actually been sort of... Well, not exactly _nice_, no one's nice to the staff. But he actually _smiles_. It's so romantic!"

I stared at her, half torn between gagging and bursting into laughter. Romantic? If you call getting threatened with death every couple of weeks romantic then you have serious psychological problems...

The boy spared a scornful look for Amber, then rolled his eyes at me, "I really thought you'd be prettier. I thought vampires were supposed to have taste?"

"Alan!" Amber gasped at him, before looking at me apologetically. "Sorry, he's just used to being around vampire woman - normal girls are all ugly." She snorted and folded her arms, shooting him a glare. Alan gave her a haughty look, and shrugged.

Zoe caught my eye, and I saw a smirk crack on her face.

"They're cute, right?" She hissed at me.

"Do you _constantly_ have to play matchmaker?" I rose my eyebrows sarcastically.

Zoe batted her eyelashes, twisting her hair around her finger innocently... But I had to admit, I did notice Alan glance nervously back in Amber's direction, just to make sure she wasn't really mad at him.

"So, um," I said, unsure of what to say, "What do you guys do here?"

"Cleaning, maintenence," Amber shrugged, "We help out at parties - it's pretty interesting. I saw you at the last one - your dress was lovely, but my favourite one was Giselle's - just butterflies! It's so magical..."

She started going all misty-eyed again, and Alan sighed loudly.

"You are so cynical," Amber told him, folding her arms.

"I'm not cyncial," Alan argued, "I just don't have any respect for fairy tales..."

"Anyway," interupted Zoe, before the fight continued, "I was thinking that we could go for a walk or something, since Lilliy hardly gets out of her little prison these days-"

"You really don't have to," I answered nervously, not wanting anyone else worrying about me - it got tiring pretty fast. "I'm fine, I can go back to my room-"

There was a silvery _whoosh,_ followed by a hard musical voice.

"Yes, Lilly," Smiled Kay, her teeth astoundingly white and sharp, "I think maybe we should do that?"

Kay stood still and straight in the centre of the room, her dark ochre eyes blazing into me. She didn't look angry, not as angry as I thought she would be, at least. Kay was one of the nicer vampires, but that didn't mean she would hesitate to hurt me. The other three humans had been completely incapacitated by her sudden appearance - lights popped in Zoe's eyes, and the most noticeably affected was Alan, who was practically drooling.

"You know Christoph's rules," Kay said, looking at her feet guiltily, "And I have no choice in enforcing them. You need to return to your room."

The weird thing was, I didn't feel anything - uncontrolled lust or the panic of being caught. I'd felt like that for a while now.

"Kay..." I groped fruitlessly for words, "I'm... really sorry. But I just..." My throat felt like it was swelling up, "I can't, I," I couldn't even look up without the sinking feeling my chest spreading until swallowed me completely. "Christoph said to - I can't, and - and -" I choked out the words, trying to say something. "Erik was only trying t-to help... And, and he can't, I'm sorry, but..."

I looked at Kay, bleary eyed and exhausted. Her face had blurred with all the water in my eyes. Erik hadn't come to save me. Erik was _gone._

And I had to get used to that.

* * *

**A/N: Wow, melodramatic much Lilly? ;) Anyway yesss,thank you for all the lovely positive feedback, you are all lovely. And it was great hearing about the favourite characters as well - I'm so glad that you like them :D I think my favourite is either Giselle or Zoe. But I do love Erik too. (: And wow, it's been a year since I started this story. :O Slow updater much? Not too many chapters left now though, believe me... ****Reviewers are loved, and always encourage me when I get lazy. ;) *hint***


	18. 18

**A/N: Yay! We've finally in the run-up to the end ;D Only a few more chapters and we'll see how it all ends. Even I'm not sure, haha, but don't worry, I know roughly where we're going. (: Thanks for all your lovely reviews and for putting this story in your favourites - it makes me very proud when I manage another update. Sorry it took me so long, but I got a new laptop (yay!) over the holidays, so I had transfer all my stuff off my old laptop... Ya know. Anyway, have fun, read and review! :)**

* * *

**18; finally! a little bit of defiance...**

I dreamt about green eyes.

Kay had sat next to me all night, listening to me crying and screaming in my sleep. When morning came I was almost too tired to feel humiliated. Almost. She sat next to me now, looking at me almost pitifully.

"You say his name in your sleep you know," she commented mildly.

I didn't say anything. I knew I must have said his name, because in my dreams I was trying to pull him down off the ledge of the balcony – only in this dream, something had gone wrong, because the harder I yanked him down, the more off balance he became, and it pulled us both down off the ledge, falling into blackness. And I'd been shouting after him as he slipped away from me.

_Oh God, I was so pathetic._

A strange quirky smile was on Kay's face.

"I said that out loud, didn't I?" I mumbled, feeling my face burn up.

"If you prefer," she said, "I could lie and say you didn't."

Well, it wasn't like I could lie. The only person who my obsession wasn't clear to was me, and I seemed to have just registered it now. Awkward much?

"Sorry," I muttered, brushing the topic aside quickly to find a more important one, "Does Christoph know?"

"No – he has no idea," she said casually, just like you'd say _no worries, it's no biggie_. I was almost struck by her kindness. "I don't think you deserve anymore punishment than you have already endured," she explained in a measured voice, "It would be unfair to destroy you like that."

Her eyes were very placid, and she was unnervingly still – I got the idea that Kay had a very keen sense of justice – she refused to even drink human blood...

She cracked a strange half smile at the absent look on my face.

"You forget that I understand your problem exactly," she said, her voice emotionless. She was looking down at the ring on her left hand. I'd never noticed it before – it was silver with a large gold-flecked gem embedded in it's surface, the same colour as her tiger's eyes. For a moment I was completely confused – then I remembered a certain burly, boyish vampire, and something clicked.

"You and Felix are married?" I felt my eyes widen in surprise.

Kay laughed softly at my astonishment.

"Vampires don't get married, it's needless to immortals," She said softly, "But Felix and I have been together for a very long time. He gave me this ring about eighty or ninety years ago..."

I stared at her eternally youthful face – a little freaked. _Ninety years?_ Kay was older than my grandparents...

"I thought Christoph didn't approve of his servants, er, y'know, having relationships?" I asked her, now curious.

"He doesn't," Kay answered. "Christoph demands absolute loyalty from us – that we might worship another above him scares him horribly. When Felix told him he'd given me a ring Christoph went wild. He tortured us both for days. I thought I would lose my mind..."

I felt sick, reminded of what Christoph had done to Erik because of me.

"But..." A smile cracked on her grave facade, "I refused to live in a world without Felix. We were two of Christoph's most loyal servants – and despite us being in love (if vampires can be in love) – he loathed the idea of throwing us away. It would have marred his collection I suppose. He still hates the idea of me and Felix – but he allows it."

"But he can't allow that with me," I said heavily, "Because I'm a human, and Erik would always feel guilty, and try and protect me. So he'd lose us both."

"That's how Christoph thinks," agreed Kay solemnly.

"But if Christoph doesn't approve of relationships," I wondered aloud, "How can he be "engaged" to Giselle?"

"The word "engaged" takes on a different meaning to a vampire, Lilly," Kay looked at me carefully. "It means that Christoph intends to turn Giselle into a vampire. Or in Giselle's case, a hybrid. Fairy and vampire. Hybrids are superstrong vampires – Christoph wants another pawn to play with."

I couldn't help but feel yet another wave of depression crash over my head at her words. Giselle, who had always been so kind was going to be polluted with a bloodlust. A hybrid vampire... The phrase echoed somehow... But Kay's face was still thoughtful.

"To be torn apart from Felix as you and Erik are," she shuddered. "It would be unbearable."

"I'm... er, bearing." I shrugged, "It's nothing, really." I was never one for taking compliments gracefully.

"No, you're not," Kay frowned, "You're weaker than you've ever been. You look almost grey. It reminds me of Erik, after Victoria. Erik as well – he looks terrible. He thinks he's guilty, refuses to feed himself, and it's driving him insane."

I couldn't imagine Erik ever looking terrible, but Kay's news sent a shiver down my spine. He was going to kill himself. And I couldn't help, because I could never do _anything._

No, I had to something.

"Kay, you've got to let me see him," I said, my voice suddenly insistent. "I'm going to help him, I don't care where he is or what he's doing. I don't care about Christoph."

"Lilly-"

"No," I said fiercely, sitting bolt upright, "Get me out of here." I pulled myself to the edge of the bed, not knowing even where I was going...

"Lilly," She tried to say again, putting a strong hand on my undernourished shoulder.

"I _have got to help him._" I all but shouted at her.

She was silent and resplendent, holding me still in her grip as she considered. A guilty look stole across her face. I had to remember she was Christoph's servant before she was mine.

"Lilly," Kay sighed, "I shouldn't do this... But it's painful to watch any longer. I'll do what I can."

I didn't feel triumphant – but it was very close. The first smile I'd felt in ages.

*******

Zoe looked at me nervously as she took in her reflection. In any normal situation, I would have protested at the ridiculously tight waitress's outfit – even on my starved figure. It showed more leg than I would ever be comfortable with, and was a horrible shade of blood (well, what else?) red. But since times were desperate, I swallowed hard, flicked my hair and got it over with.

My hair had also changed colour – normally a burnt copper, it was now raven black, clashing awfully with my white skin. I looked like a goth. I suppose in a castle full of vampires this was the vogue... But no amount of black eyeliner made this look good on me.

"Very nice, Lilly," Zoe said, tugging at her own inky coloured hair, "But are you sure you haven't gone off the deep end again? This isn't going to work."

"It'll work," I told her, my face resolute, "I only a need a few minutes to find him – just to fix things."

"I know you mean well," Zoe said, still unable to hide her worry, "But a vampire wouldn't buy your disguise for a second. They can smell us – even if we look alike, they'll recognise your scent."

Zoe was right – and I'd already worked that much out myself. Even though we were wearing identical outfits, had roughly the same body type, skin tone, and now hair colour, if anyone looked close enough they'd see my face was wrong. The heavy make-up would hopefully save me from that though – I practically looked like a member of Kiss. The second problem was the scent of my blood. Anyone would recognise that.

I bit my lip. Zoe _really_ was not going to like this part.

"Um, Kay – could you-?"

There was a dark flash, followed by a shriek of surprise, and then pain. Kay then stood in the corner of my room, having literally sprung from nowhere. In her capable hands was a sharp, tiny knife.

"Ow, God, Lilly, what the hell?!"

Zoe was clutching the new cut that Kay had just given her on her palm, glaring at me.

"Quickly," Kay said forcefully, and in an instant she had taken hold of Zoe (who appeared to immediately go slack and dazed by her closeness) and was smearing the blood, oozing off Zoe's palm, into my hair, sniffing the air cautiously.

I held still, trying not to think about the blood, and concentrate on what I needed to do. It was lucky that Kay didn't drink human blood, or we'd have both been goners.

"It's not very subtle," Kay sniffed, "But there should be enough foreign smells that if you don't stray too close to anyone you know, then no one will take notice."

"Thanks," I said, genuinely grateful. "Are you sure Erik will be there?"

"Positive," she said, "Erik is Christoph's favourite heir – it's not a choice he can make, avoiding his master's wedding. I'll see you downstairs," Kay nodded, disappearing just as quickly as she had been here.

As soon as she left, Zoe snapped back to attention, and she was furious.

"I can't believe you just did that!"

"I had to," I smirked, "Plus, I remember you saying that you'd help me, whatever it took."

"Well, I never thought you'd ambush me with a knife!" She exclaimed, still looking at her wounded palm and scowling at me.

We fell silent for a moment – Zoe traumatised over her hand, and me trying to focus myself. I felt more nervous than I had in a while, not that it meant very much, giving the turns of my life recently. Back at home I could never have imagined that I would be risking my life to save a vampire – the love of my life that literally couldn't exist...

"I don't see why we have to save Erik on the day Christoph, "evilest vampire since Dracula" is turning Giselle, aka, "most powerful fairy ever" into a hybrid, aka, "most powerful _thing_ ever in this castle"," Zoe huffed, "At a party like that - it's like you really do have a death wish..."

"It's the only immediate opportunity I've got," I replied honestly. "And if there wasn't a party to sneak into then I'd never have a chance of going unnoticed – or finding Erik."

"Of course," Zoe muttered sarcastically, "That sounds peachy."

I ignored her, and reminded her that we need to go join the rest of the servants down in the hall. She lead the way – my sense of direction was just as terrible as ever. When we got there, Kay would be of no more help. She'd told me a way to reconcile with Erik, by sneaking into Giselle's "turning" as she called it, and she refused to disobey Christoph any further, though I knew, despite her indifferent attitude, that she was proud of my defiance.

This party would be grander, busier and much more exciting than the party I'd been to before – but I wasn't going to stick around to watch Giselle be turned into a monster – no matter how curious I was. The truth about "hybrid vampires", and Christoph's evil plots could wait, because I knew my plan.

I ran through it in my mind as Zoe lead us towards the kitchens – where as a member of "staff" I would be entering from.

First I would find Erik. Second, I would find a way to talk to him, away from Christoph. Third, I was going to convince him to get out of there. With me.

It was the only solution that I could think of so far. Running away from what you couldn't fight. However, it was the only coherent thing I do with getting caught or destroyed. It didn't matter where we went – as long as I was with him.

But even the best laid plans go awry...


	19. 19

**A/N: Yes, I know it's been a while... But, try and argue with me when you've had to keep up with four prelims, two dissertations and a research investigation. Education really sucks sometimes. D: Still, I finally managed the next chapter. :) Hope you guys like it, it's the cutest chapter yet, and oooh, it's got a cliffhanger. ;D Not long till the end now, my lovelies.**

**19; it's wonderful, it's beautiful... oh no, it's just a disaster.**

"Lilly?" Amber, the once-blonde haired girl, but now also raven black like me, stared the moment I walked into the kitchens. It wasn't very confidence-inspring. Just like everyone else (a good thirty or so people), she'd been wrapped up in blood-red leather and was given a serving tray full of glasses of... yeah, you guessed it, more blood. Christoph obviously didn't do parties halfway.

"Amber," Zoe nudged Amber hard in the side, "We'd appreciate if you didn't say anything about this. Don't even think it, okay?"

"Omigosh! That's so -" Amber's eyes were swimming with tears again, for whatever reason, but then she nodded resolutely and pressed her lips tight together.

Zoe breathed a sigh of relief, then turning back to me, handed me a silver tray, full of glasses of blood.

"Good luck Lilly," she nodded.

I nodded back, not able to say anything. I was too busy trying to fight the queasy feeling in my stomach. Outside I could hear the thump of music. Outside the guests were all arriving. Monsters, aliens, fairies, ghosts, zombies... And vampires. Outside, was Erik. That was the thought that forced me to carry on. I was going to save us.

"Okay, everyone!"

Someone was standing on a platform at the end of the room, dressed in the same uniform as the rest of us, except he was guy – so he was wearing a waistcoat and trousers instead of a cleavage dress.

"I want everyone on their best behaviour tonight," he said, "No one disappearing, no one talking to the guests, unless you are asked a question. We know what can happen if people get carried away. All of you are going to work your asses off tonight, but it'll be worth it, understood? No one will stay to watch the fairy queen get turned, of course. I want you all back here for midnight. That's when the doors are locked, people."

When he was finished speaking, there was a rumbling sound.

The huge stone fireplace, just a few feet away from the edge of the group, had started turning –leaving a dark stone passageway. Immediately people lifted up their trays and started walking into the passageway – which was reverberating with music. Obviously, this was how the staff got into the party.

My hand holding the tray was shaking so hard I could barely balance it.

It was now or never.

Following the surge of leather-clad serving staff I teetered forward in my heels, towards the passage. I looked around as someone nudged my shoulder. It was Alan. He nodded grudgingly at me, and I took that to mean that he was on my side. He opened his mouth to say something, but it was pointless, because the closer we got to the party the heavier the bass got, till it shook the ground we stood on. Only a vampire would have been able to hear under all the noise. My heart rate picked up, as the temperature got colder and the light dimmer. The passageway had been longer than I thought. I'd lost sight of Zoe and Amber, and even Alan had been shuffled off by another faceless staff member.

I was aware of their eyes on my face, knowing blatantly that I was not one of the usual flock of humans tended by the vampire masters here. I kept my head down, not wanting to cause a stir.

Then the darkness was punctured by bright lights.

The passage gave way into the cavernous hall that I dimly recognised from a couple of months ago – Christoph's last, disastrous get-together. The reason that I barely realised it was the same room was because it looked so different. While Christoph's last party had looked like the inside of a Soho club populated with flawless mythological monsters instead of celebrities, this occasion was much more breathtaking.

The high ceilings had been adorned with sashes of pure black, and the room lit by wondrous luminescent bulbs that hovered in the air like crystallised bubbles of pure white light. As I passed underneath them I believed I could see tiny sparks fizzing around inside, like tiny fairies. Every surface seemed to glisten like polished silver, the marble floor so smooth I could see my own reflection in it. The tables, sparsely around the edges of the room looked like they'd been carved of pure crystal, rooted to the floor with emerald polished vines that travelled all around the room, up the walls, twining themselves into the iron chandeliers.

It was beautiful. Giselle's fairy effects combined with the austere vampire surroundings could be felt, and I suddenly began to fear how terrifying she would become as a hybrid once Christoph had sunk his teeth into her.

But it was impossible to care when I knew I would not be around to see it. As usual my eyes were overwhelmed by the pure, undiluted beauty of the creatures that sashayed past me. Many of them vampires, dressed in anciently expensive couture. I hadn't yet seen a face I recognised, and thank God, no one had yet heard the pounding of my heart.

A beautiful, red haired vampire, swished past me, snatching up a glass. She did not even look at me twice. In fact, none of the guest noticed me, despite being so pressed in by them it was suffocating. As a human, I was completely irrelevant. And that was perfect.

I immediately began to search for Erik, looking beyond the vampires that approached me.

And my search soon looked very fruitless. There were simply too many people. Everywhere I looked there was a bewitching siren woman, or an animated man made out of stone, or a bespectacled ghost or a shimmering fairy or a grim reaper or Hercules look-alike...

Until I looked up.

Statues of beautiful people, some with wings, some without, lined the way up to the podium where they stood. Celeste, stunning, in a scandalously cut, apple red dress. Kay, vigilant and stone-like, only a slight curve at the corner of her lip to indicate her amusement at Felix, stood next to her, grinning and talking animatedly. Behind them, a pleased sneer on his catlike face, Alexei, surveying the writhing mass of supernaturals below. Next to him Giselle, coming second in beauty only to Celeste, and even then only fractionally. Giselle was looking into Christoph's black eyes with a fascinated smile on her face. Christoph, completely oblivious to everything around him, was equally enraptured.

I never could believe that such a twisted motherfucker could look so... In love.

But that wasn't what I was looking for. Where was Erik?! He had to be here. Had to be.

The whole group was surrounded by a haze of colours, from Giselle's collection of fairy associates, hovering around the so called "bride". It must be because of them that I couldn't see him, it had to be it –

I walked into something hard, the tray clattering out of my hand before I could stop it.

The crash was barely audible under the thundering music, and it was (luckily) empty, but for one glass. A glass that Erik held in his right hand.

His brilliant eyes were wide with alarm, his perfectly hewn face as serious as a death mask.

Before I had the chance to open my mouth his left arm had reached out, and his hand tightened gently on my shoulder, as though he had to check I wasn't a mirage. When he felt the flesh under his fingers, the look of alarm increased.

"Lilly," He whispered, "You_ need_ to get out of here."

"I know," I said simply, unwrapping his hand from my shoulder. He reluctantly let go and stepped back. I nodded towards the gardens and he nodded back. He'd meet me there.

Now it was all a question of time. How long before someone noticed that we'd disappeared?

When I reached outside, ignoring the mildly curious looks directed at me by some of the guest (waitress with empty tray, leaving the party – kinda weird), Erik was already waiting. To use the word tense wouldn't have been strong enough to describe the steeliness he looked at me with when I walked outside. His face was comforting, yes, but it was also terrified, overjoyed and... _Starved._ I couldn't help but notice how his eyes darted to my neck before they found my face.

"I wanted to tell you," I said softly, afraid to shatter the dead silence that echoed all around us in the darkness, "I love you."

It felt like a cold clear breeze had lifted me off my feet.

"Lilly-" Erik began, his eyes still eerily bright. He was going to persuade me to give myself up. Try and save myself. Run away.

"No, I mean it," I replied, more forcefully, "I've loved you since the first time I met you, I just didn't know it until it was right in front of my face. I know I sound like an idiot, and that you're ten times older than me, but I don't care. I can't let Christoph do this to us, I'd rather die."

"Lilly..."

I looked up at him, and saw a flash of his fangs in the moonlight. Normally they didn't show. He was gazing at me with that strangled, hungry look again. The look of a bloodthirsty vampire.

With a sudden jerk, he was at my side, breathing in the scent of my hair, my blood. His arms fastened loosely around me, resisting the urge to snap my neck. I felt oddly like I was made of glass.

"I starved myself for weeks," He murmured softly, his breath rippling over the skin of my neck, "I never thought that I'd see you like this..." Each word was dripping with frustration. "Get out of here, _please._ I can't trust myself around you..."

I had never felt so vulnerable, and never felt so much like I didn't care.

"I'm not leaving now," I said firmly, as his predator hold tightened. His touch was cold than I'd ever felt it before, paralysing me. I stared up at him, wide-eyed, defiant, and he stared back, his eyes hazed over with hunger.

"I'll hurt you," he said softly, clinging to his conscious.

"No you won't," I smiled grimly, "I'm an antidote remember? I'll heal in minutes."

"I don't know what's going to happen next, Lilly..." He said.

"I don't care," I answered, "Bite me."

Unable to torture himself any longer, he bit me. I felt a diamond sharp pain in the side of my neck as his teeth broke the skin. There was a rush of air as he carefully pulled me towards him, his wings enfolding up and propelling us upwards. The only thing I was conscious of was being in his arms, remembering it in case it was the last time.

I had never noticed how the sky sparkled in the cold. I looked down at the drop below and felt no fear. When my blood took effect we might fall, but I wouldn't let go.

Just as everything started to go fuzzy there was a bright light.

"Lilly?"

I was staring into a pair of crystalline emerald eyes, polished free of the bloody haze they'd been in before. Erik's voice was like an anaesthetic, dulling the pain and making everything shiny and dreamlike and warm...

His face glowed golden and concerned. His wings weren't mangy and black anymore, they were lustrous, starbright silver.

I blinked in the sudden change.

It was still Erik. I could feel his arms wrapped safely around me. But this wasn't Erik as I had known him. Everything about him had been refined and purified and scattered with light. The darkness was removed. His hair had lightened, due to the immense golden light that shone though his skin. He had seen the look of complete amazement on my face and a wicked smile spread over his perfect face.

"You – you," I stammered, "You – angel."

"Yeah," He smiled with straight, fangless teeth.

And I remembered. Christoph's hints at Erik, "his dark angel". Erik's inability to return to his former life. Alexei's jealousy at Erik's remarkable strength, his "abilities".

"You're a hybrid," I said, mind spinning, "Like Giselle. You were an angel. You didn't. You – Were you ever human?"

"Maybe," said Erik, his voice was like pure music, "But I can't remember it."

He was looking at me intently, smiling widely. He looked intensely amused. I didn't even have to ask before he explained.

"I feel so light," He said, "Being able to look at you without constantly noticing the smell of your blood and how it easy it would be to kill you, it's like having a curse removed. It's beautiful."

"It's only temporary," I said quietly.

Already the light than outshone all the stars above us was starting to dim, his wings slowly losing sparkle and lustre. Erik's expression didn't change though. He was gazing at my face, a smile caressing his features.

"But I'll still love you," he said, and kissed me.

For a long time I was blissfully unaware of everything but him. We floated together perfectly, anything below us judged irrelevant as our lips struggled against each other, my hands somehow entwining themselves in his darkening hair, his scent swirling around my head and turning everything woolly and blissful.

It wasn't like anything I'd experienced before. It felt as natural and as necessary as breathing.

An uproar of screams punctuated the night.

All the lights from the castle below were going out.

Then there were crashes, as heavy as thunder.

_lilly?_

Alexei's voice was in my mind. Shocked. Stunned. Scared.

_lilly, _

_i know you can hear me; tell erik to get down here now._


	20. 2o

**2o; it's like, the wedding from hell – literally!**

"I'm not taking you with me," Erik said, his eyebrows furrowed like stormclouds.

"You don't even know what's happened," I protested, "I can't hear Alexei's voice anymore, he might be... He might -"

I swallowed hard at the thought of what might have happened.

"Even more reason for you not to go down there," Erik repeated gruffly, his eyes intense. "Christoph is a powerful vampire, Lilly, he has some very powerful enemies. Practically half the werewolves in the forest want him dead after Giselle's stunt... Not to mention other vampires – you could be a target. Who knows what could be going on down there..."

Erik was in urgent thought, and it was only went I felt a cold stinging gust of wind that I realised we had started moving again.

"Where are we going?" I mumbled, unconsciously tightening my grip around Erik's neck. I had only just found him again, I refused to be separated from him now, "Erik, please..."

"I can't let you get hurt," He growled, "You know I can't. I love you, but Christoph is still my master... I can't let him be killed. And I can't take you with me."

I saw his logic, of course – why take the frail, fragile human into a supernatural deathzone? Of course, it didn't make me feel any better being locked up somewhere where I had no idea what was going on. In seconds we had arrived back at the burnt stone balcony, outside my impenetrable prison. I could already feel my heart starting to pound at the thought of Erik in danger, worrying. My hands shook as forced them to unlatch themselves from around him. Even Erik's normally perfect composure appeared to be crumbling.

"I promise I'll be back as soon as it's safe," he said seriously. I was struck by how unusually hard his face had become, but his eyes softened when they reached my face. He reached out and his arms wrapped around me, pulling me towards him, and before I even realised it, he was kissing me. His lips, warm with the blood he'd just taken from me, were pressed hard against mine, and I never wanted them to stop...

But he was standing up on the ledge before I knew it. The wind was lifting his shiny dark hair up and he smiled down at me tightly.

"I love you, Lilly," He said, his voice husky and raw, "Don't forget it."

Before I could reply, he was gone.

It felt like I'd just been punched hard in the gut. My eyes watered, and I felt all the strength leave me. I remembered the sound that had come from the hall below us, and my mind was plagued with theories, each one scarier than the last. Not only was Erik there – so was Zoe, so was Kay, Felix, Celeste, Alexei and Giselle. All of them were in danger, and I had no idea how much, and once again, I was useless, helpless, and incapable of doing anything that could save them.

What had gone wrong? Everything had looked so perfect when I'd entered the party... Had rival vampires really attacked Christoph? Or had Elias and his clan of wolves decided to break their agreement with Giselle? Was this because of me, and my "antidote" powers?

All I could do was wait, and hope he'd be okay.

I went inside, knowing that sitting outside on the balcony would attract attention to prying eyes. Erik had told me to keep myself safe, and for once, I was going to take his advice. I didn't sit down – I couldn't trust myself to move too much when I was this frightened. Again, I tried fruitlessly to search for a connection to Alexei's mind, and heard nothing. I was alone.

So much for my plans to escape, I thought to myself, almost wanting to laugh with misery.

That's when I heard it. Not a subtle creak or snap, a blood-curdling scraping noise from outside the balcony, getting closer.

My heart beating like a drum in my head, I stepped towards it, knowing that whoever was out there must have known I was here. The scraping continued, like nails on a chalkboard. I stepped outside, and I gasped at the sight Alexei, running his fingernail across the stone wall, leaving a deep groove in the impenetrable rock.

"A-alexei, what-" I began to say, in shock.

He looked up at me and his face split into a sleek smile, his fangs delicately elongated over his bottom lip warningly.

"Lilly, sweetheart," he said, his voice soft and dangerous, "You're all alone... How careless of Erik to leave you all by yourself, especially in times like these." As he spoke his dark, calculating eyes were tracking my every movement, like a predator looks at his prey.

"You know you c-can't bite me," I said, unbelievably frightened by the look in his eyes, "Wh-what do you want?"

"Ah," Alexei straightened up, stepped forward, and looked at me coldly, "Isn't that quite the question... In fact, I'm surprised you haven't worked it out yet... Well, no, I'm not, you aren't very bright, are you?"

I didn't say anything, trying to piece it together. What Alexei had said before was a lie. It must have been. It was all a trap to lure away Erik. Alexei had always hated Erik, he was so jealous of him. He wanted Erik destroyed, so he could reap all of Christoph's rewards. But Alexei couldn't have disrupted the largest gathering of powerful being all by himself, could he?

"Christoph-" I began, thinking it the most obvious answer.

I was interrupted by Alexei's hooting laughter at what I'd said.

"Don't be a fool, _human_," he spat, "Do you honestly think that old man would sabotage his own pathetic wedding? Christoph is weakening – that much is obvious. He's become too easy to us to deceive. Did you see the soppy, lovesick look in his eyes? Much like your precious _Erik_," he sneered the word, "Christoph was defeated because of his weakness... I know who can give me the power I want, and it's not Christoph. Christoph is going to be executed – with your help, of course, my dear."

I was speechless.

Alexei had betrayed his master – an act, that according to Erik, was supposed to be impossible. And he wasn't the only one, according to what I'd just heard.

"What have you done?" I asked lowly, hearing a steeliness in my voice that I didn't know that I even possessed. My hands had clenched into white knuckled fists – even though I knew my puny strength would be of no use here.

"It was quite a simple plan, really," Alexei said smugly, "We fooled the old man, and we fooled Erik into leaving you alone. The party downstairs has been taken over, thanks to some of my connections, and if everything goes smoothly – which it will – we'll use every drop of blood you have in your scrawny, worthless body to execute anyone who stands against us."

I could feel rage building up at what he was saying – it wasn't fair. It was underhanded and wrong and I wished that I could reach out and hurt him...

"You're disgusting," I said, unable to express how cheated I felt, "You pathetic little creep, you'll do anything, _anything_, just because you're _weak_._"_

Alexei's lip pressed into a thin line, and for a moment he looked tensed to spring, but just as he looked about to attack me, he held back.

"I won't kill you yet,_ human_," he said slowly, staying calm, "I'm going to make you watch as I kill everyone – Christoph, Felix, Kay, Celeste, Erik... Then, I'll kill you."

Suddenly I felt his grip on my wrist, like a crushing iron band. I heard myself gasp in pain when his other hand wrapped around my hair and lifted me up by it.

"Now," he whispered roughly into my ear, "Let's go join the party, shall we?"

I was in too much pain to give a coherent answer – but the world was already moving past us at a dizzying rate and I choked on my breath.

When we stopped, I barely recognised the place, that not even an hour before had been the most beautiful scene in the world.

Alexei let me go abruptly, leaving me to fall to the floor, which was strewn with glittering shards of shattered glass, which had previously been the magnificent floating bauble containing glowing lights. I immediately felt the glass break the skin on my forearms and my bare knees, and no sooner had I been cut then a snarling chorus of ravenous vampires had greeted me. My scalp where Alexei had grabbed me by the hair was prickling and pounding, and my arm was white hot like it had been fractured.

I looked up and I saw it – the debris. The hall had been destroyed. Furniture had been overturned and obliterated, there were dents in the polished marble floor and holes in the walls caused by vampires being thrown through them during the fight. The lights were out – the hall was lit only by the remaining dim chandeliers, casting a spooky glow over the faces that were looking down at me. The sparkling and exotic guests had either disappeared, or else they had been imprisoned or destroying by their captors – mangy and mean looking vampires that reminded me of the one Christoph had "tested" me on.

"Don't touch her," Alexei snarled at them, forcing them to back away from me, "Make a move and I'll kill you."

They were all watching me, staring at the scarlet blood that was steadily coursing down my arms.

Shuddering with the pain ripping through, I made an effort not to make a noise as I dragged myself to my feet. Where were my friends? Where was Erik? Was Alexei really going to use his vampire army to assassinate everyone?

When the dizziness cleared, I was able to see what was going on. I turned around. Behind me, all of them frozen in place like statues – unmoving, unblinking – stood an assortment of people I knew and plenty that I didn't, the guests to Christoph's wedding. I searched the people in confusion, immediately picking out Felix, who was caught in a ferocious mid-snarl. Celeste too, was in an elegant battle stance, and Kay's face frozen in horror. Zoe was there too, amongst a cluster of other terrified looking staff, her orange hair unmissable. And Erik...

Erik was at the front, looking the most formidable of the lot, his brilliant eyes staring out towards me in desperation. He was unable to move, but he could still see me. My heart twisted in my chest at the thought of how he must feel, seeing me here. I looked back at him determinedly, wishing I could tell him that everything would be okay.

I didn't know how Alexei had done it, but somehow he had paralysed everyone in the ballroom at the point of the takeover.

There were only two living statues that I couldn't see...

"What did you do to them, you bastard?" I choked out, my voice thick and my eyes tearing up with the hopelessness of the situation.

Alexei smiled at me like a cat, and gave an airy light wave to his hungry looking soldiers. They erupted in snickers and moved to the sides of the room, making room for...

Giselle stepped forward, her beautiful face twisted into a devious mask of amusement at the horrified expression I wore. She looked just as exotic and wild as ever, but something about her was now distinctly different. Her face was harder, less natural and more cold. Her teeth were sharper and her cruel mouth was red with blood.

Now I understood.

"Lilly," She shot me a ruthless, bloody smile, "It's nice to see you... We can finally finish this little game."


End file.
